The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks
by EnJayDee
Summary: Pre-Twilight Emmett and Rosalie. They meet in Emmett's hometown before she finds him mauled by a Grizzly. Their story, from the first time they meet and how they begin a relationship.
1. Happy in Idaho? Please

Twilight Fan Fiction

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N:** Okay, I saw the new _Twilight_ movie and decided that no one knows anything about Rosalie and Emmett before Bella's part in the story. We know some things, but we do know more about Jasper and Alice than we do about Rosalie and Emmett. I didn't think this was fair, and after reading some Emmett fan fiction from this site, I decided these two needed a pre-Twilight story. Hope you like it. Also, my weakness is a tendency towards long chapters. Sorry. Hope you can stick with the chapters and review when you're done.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Twilight_.

They said that it would be better. They said that she would be happier in Idaho. _Idaho_. When she had been alive, Rosalie didn't even know where Idaho was, and she didn't care to back then. She still didn't. She didn't want to live in Ketchum, Idaho any more than she wanted to still be "alive." She didn't want to be what she was, and now she was going to have be what she was in Idaho. It was unbelievable. Yet Carlisle insisted getting away from her home state would be a good thing for her; she would be able to put it all behind her. She could forget about her mother and father and friends and the people she'd killed. She didn't want to have to wait for her life to disappear in Idaho. She didn't want her life to disappear at all. She wanted to be alive. She wanted to be married and have a small, dimpled child of her own.

"Rosalie, it is going to be better here," Carlisle assured her as they pulled up into the driveway of their new house. It was larger than the other ones they had passed up, but they didn't want to look too out of the ordinary. Carlisle was going to work as a doctor in the town, making house calls and holding appointments in the local practice some five miles away. He could believably afford a bigger house.

Rosalie didn't say anything. She just got out of the car and walked into the house, not even looking. She didn't want to know it; she just wanted to go to her room and sleep, but she couldn't sleep. She could never sleep again. She hadn't slept in two years. She hadn't eaten food in two years, human food, that was. Edward was carrying three of her heavy suitcases in his arms behind her.

"Rosalie," he said in response to her thoughts. She turned to look at him.

"What?" she demanded sharply.

"He really does want you to be happier," Edward told her.

"I'm not going to be, no matter where I am," she said, grabbing her suitcases away from him and walking into her room. Esme had been living in the house for a month or so on her own, decorating it and moving in furniture and the bulk of their belongings. Carlisle's father's wooden cross was already up in the hallway, a beacon to anyone who would walk into it. Rosalie tried not to kick her door open. She knew that she would break it, and she didn't want to upset Esme after all the work she had put into the house.

"Rosalie," Edward repeated. She tossed her suitcases down on the carpeted floor without ceremony and turned to look at Edward, frowning. "Try to be happier."

"Are you happy? Are you ever happy with the way we are?" Rosalie asked angrily, turning away from him and walking into her large closet. It had all of her clothes in it, organized by what piece of clothing it was, and within those, by color. Clothes calmed her, especially pretty ones that were expensive and made her look even more beautiful. Also, Esme must have put some real effort coordinating it all.

"I'm not unhappy, Rosalie," he said.

"Were you happy when you were away from the family? When you went on your killing spree?" she asked harshly, meaning to wound. He looked taken aback by her question, reading her meaning in her thoughts. He knew that she wanted him hurt, wanted him gone. "If that helps, then I will go and kill every single one of our neighbors," Rosalie bit out.

"It doesn't," Edward said quietly, and Rosalie felt momentarily a stab of guilt. Then she shook it away. It had been his decision to leave Carlisle and Esme. He would have to live with it now when Rosalie brought it up, though she hadn't been there when he had left. She had still been happy in her ignorance of everything that was her life now back then.

"Edward, get out," she said finally. He hadn't gotten angry at her for bringing up the time he was most ashamed of. He had been hurt, but he hadn't left. She could only ask him to leave now.

"If you want, Rosalie, but Carlisle said we should go hunting before we meet anyone from the city," he said, walking to the door.

"I'll hunt when I'm ready," she said before he walked out, closing the door softly. Rosalie walked out of her closet and stared at her room. She had a queen sized bed with a floral bedspread, though she didn't need it at all. Besides that there was a large vanity with a three piece mirror to put on her makeup (as if she needed to). There was a writing desk and a book shelf, populated with books she'd never read. On a table a radio stood, turned off. She walked over to it and turned it on, not even listening to what was on. There were some paintings placed around the room, along with some plants. It was a pleasant room, but she was in no way happier because of its good aesthetics.

"Rosalie!" Esme called from downstairs. She looked to her door. Esme was walking up the stairs. She opened the door, smiling. "How do you like it? I wasn't sure if you would like the paintings or the bedspread," she said. Rosalie smiled at her.

"It's wonderful, Esme, thank you." Esme smiled happily.

"The real work of the room, though, is your closet. It was quite the ordeal, but I was so proud of myself when I finished it. Only got the full length mirrors up this week." Rosalie nodded. If her closet had been an ordeal for a vampire, then it would have been impossible for a human to do in such a short period of time. She was touched, and if she wasn't so upset about the location of the house that the closet was a part of, she would have been happy. But she couldn't be, so she could only say, "I like it lot. You arranged them beautifully." Esme smiled again.

"I'm glad to hear that." They stood near each other, not saying anything. Silence with Esme was never uncomfortable or strained. She was content with being with any member of her family, speaking or not. "I'm terribly sorry to tell you this, since you just got here, but Edward, Carlisle and I are going hunting. We'd love for you to join us. Carlisle said it would be wise for us to hunt before we met the community as a whole. I've been feeding rather frequently since I've had humans over here this past month. I was alone, and didn't have Carlisle or Edward to help me," she said, smiling. Rosalie wondered if it was hard for her to admit that weakness. She also didn't miss the way she left Rosalie's name out of those who would help her if she couldn't control her urge to bite the contractor.

"I can go anytime, Esme," she said. She couldn't refuse Esme like she could Edward.

"Good, well, we'd like to go as soon as possible. There's a rogue Grizzly some fifty miles north of here, and we thought it might be a good idea to take care of it."

"Let's go, then," Rosalie said. The sun was out, but was hidden behind a rain cloud. They were lucky that neighbors weren't that common. Idaho wasn't exactly a shady state, but it wasn't Arizona. They should have gone somewhere else, though. She had no idea how Carlisle was going to make house calls on a sunny day. Maybe he would take the night shift. She really didn't have any idea.

The Grizzly they found without too much difficulty. Rosalie was the one who found it and took it down. She was angry and the bear was something to take her anger out on. Edward caught up to her in no time, since he was the fastest. Together they drank, leaving none for Esme and Carlisle. When the two of them got there, Edward and Rosalie were done.

"Sorry, Carlisle. We haven't fed in a while," Edward apologized. Carlisle shook his head, dismissing the apology.

"We heard some elk a mile or so east. You two can go back home, if you are both done. Esme and I will hunt together," he said. Edward looked at Rosalie who agreed. They ran back home. When they were in the door, Edward asked her to listen to something. They walked into the parlor room, where Edward's pianoforte was placed as the center of attention.

"What am I listening to?" Rosalie asked.

"It's something I've been working on since we met. It's a song for you," he said, his fingers gliding across the keys. Somehow, it managed to sound conceited, the way the notes were bold and paired and played. Also, he managed to get the notes to have an angry edge, even frustration as they sped up and became more forceful. She listened as her own emotions were played for her to hear. It ended on a low, forceful note, foreshadowing her continued emotions. When it was over, Rosalie sat in the chair and stared at Edward.

Why, exactly, had he decided to write a song for her? Had he decided that he wanted to be in her particular graces?

"I wrote one for Carlisle and Esme, when I got to know them. You know that you're my sister, and that's all you'll ever be to me. This song is your official initiation into the family." Rosalie managed not to frown at this. She thought of Edward only as a brother, but it was frustrating for him not to feel an ounce of attraction to her. She knew that he acknowledged her unparalleled beauty, but that was all. She, too, knew he was handsome. The thing was, why couldn't he take her beauty and make it into something to be desired, kept for himself? "Rosalie," he said, frowning, beginning to play a soft, kind tune.

"Keep out of my head if you don't want to know what I'm thinking about," Rosalie said, looking away from him as the musical seemed to cuddle her in its arms. It was nurturing and seemed to murmur sentiments. "Is this Esme's?" she asked. She turned her head just in time to see him nod his head and smile.

"She would have cried when she heard it, if she could," he said. Rosalie nodded, getting up and leaving Edward to finish off Esme's beautiful, fitting song.

**A/N:** If you didn't know, this is set in 1935, the year Emmett is changed. Also keep in mind that Rosalie was turned two years earlier. Anyway, review please!


	2. Burnt Hotdogs are the Best Kind

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Alright, chapter 2 is in Emmett's POV. I am a two-POV person. I like getting both sides of a story. Some people don't like it, but I like to know what my main characters are thinking. I hope you all think that I got Emmett right.

**Disclaimer: ** I don't own _Twilight_, though I'm sure you know that.

The sun was out. Emmett McCarty was out in his backyard, grilling hotdogs. His older brother Tyler was throwing a football with his buddy from college. His little sister, Margaret Ann, was on the porch, coloring. He father was at work and his mother was making lemonade in the kitchen. He had missed Ketchum. He had missed how everything was content and didn't need to be hurried.

"Emmett! Tyler! Richie! You all want a glass of my lemonade?" his mother called as she walked out onto the porch, the pitcher balanced on a tray with five classes. Tyler and Richie, his buddy, stopped throwing the football back and forth and walked over to the porch, assuring his mother that a glass of lemonade would be much appreciated. "What about you, Emmett? You thirsty, honey?" his mother asked him.

"Pour me a glass, Ma, I'm grilling," he told her, poking a hotdog with his spatula. His mother smiled and poured him a glass after taking care of Tyler and Richie. She set his glass on the wooden table on the deck and handed a glass to Margaret Ann.

"Mrs. McCarty, I love your homemade lemonade, I do," Richie said, taking a huge gulp.

"Why, thank you, Richie. You can come over any time for a drink," his mother assured him and Richie grinned at Tyler.

"Ma, now he isn't ever going to leave us alone!" Tyler said grinning at their mother's disapproving frown.

"That's alright with me. We can always feed another mouth," she said.

"Not when Emmett's home. He eats for three people, at least," Tyler said, smirking at Emmett. He didn't say anything; he knew that it was true. He had beat out every single one of his fraternity brothers back at college in food eating contests.

"That just means I am used to making big meals, young man," their mother said, walking back into the house. Tyler and Richie finished off their glasses of lemonade and continued their tossing.

"Hey, Emmett, you feel like going to that dance tonight?" Tyler asked.

"I guess I should. I mean, I haven't gone to any of the other ones so far, and it's already past Independence Day," Emmett said. He had opted to stay at college for a little longer taking some makeup classes he'd missed but hadn't told his father about. So he had gotten home well after June 4th, the end of term. He had made it home a week and a half before the Fourth of July.

"Yeah, it is, Emmett. Susan wants to talk to you," Tyler said, laughing. Susan Turnhol had been wanting to talk to Emmett for as long as he could remember. He had been beyond glad when he got to go away to college two years ago and have most of the year without her constantly at his heals.

"Susan is just going to have find someone else to talk to," Emmett said. Susan was a nice-looking girl, but he'd grown up with her, and knew everything there was to know about her. He wasn't interested in hearing her tell him things he already knew.

"Ah, give Susan a chance," Tyler said, laughing again.

"Say, Tyler, why don't you talk to Susan?" Emmett asked him. Tyler shook his hand and threw the football to Richie.

"Susan's nice," Margaret Ann said from the porch. Margaret Ann was fourteen and in love with any older girl who paid attention to her. She was trying to make everyone see that she wasn't a child anymore, but she was still coloring.

"I never said that she wasn't nice," Emmett said, placing the hotdogs on the plate he was holding. Then he put them on the picnic table in their backyard.

"Ma, the food is done!" Tyler shouted into the house. Their mother walked out with the hotdog buns and set them down on the picnic table.

"Alright, remember that we are human beings, not animals, and that we should chew with our mouths closed and swallow the first bite before we take another. Can you all remember that?" she said. Tyler, Richie and Emmett nodded, since they were the ones who the instructions were made to. Emmett had burnt the hotdogs a little, the way he liked them, but Margaret Ann felt the need to moan about the black part of her hotdog, refusing to eat it. So Tyler did instead. She complained about that, too. Eventually, his mother told her that if she didn't want to eat her food, then she couldn't complain about someone else eating it, but if she did want her food, then she shouldn't complain about the way it looked. Then she scolded Tyler for eating Margaret Ann's hotdog.

When it was seven o' clock, Emmett, Tyler, and Richie took their pick-up and drove over to the local dance hall where most of the teenagers met up to talk, dance, and drink beer. Most of the people who were there that night had been away at college, and the youngest person in attendance was eighteen.

"Emmett McCarty! We haven't seen you around here, yet!" Andy Bluffton said from across the room, detaching himself from his girl and walking over to Emmett. Andy wasn't nearly as tall as Emmett, or as built. But he had that sort of presence that made him unable to bully. He had been something of the pack leader when they were high school.

"You know you have to be in the right mind to go to one of these things, and mine was still all clogged with college facts," Emmett said, grinning. Andy had stayed home and worked on his father's farm, like most of the kids from Ketchum did. Emmett's family wasn't necessarily rich, they were just well-off. His father had fought in the Great War and gotten honors for gallantry or something, which meant that he was paid a nice sum of money. It also meant that Emmett and Tyler had been raised with near military discipline, hence their muscled physiques.

"Ah, you big college man, you've probably been to much better parties than our little town can muster up," Andy said. Emmett shrugged noncommittally. It went without saying.

"Guess what, Emmett?" Andy asked.

"What?"

"Me and my girl are going to be married this October. I asked her to marry me two nights ago," Andy said, glancing at Mary, his girl, who was talking to Susan, showing her left finger and laughing.

"You? A married man?" Emmett asked. It was commonplace for people to marry at eighteen in Ketchum. Tyler was beginning to be thought of as a long-term bachelor. He didn't have a girlfriend and he was twenty-two. He insisted that he was waiting till he could afford a wife before getting one. No one had started in on Emmett yet, since he was getting a business degree.

"I love her, and she's the prettiest thing here; I wouldn't want anyone else to snatch her up before I asked her," he said. Emmett rolled his eyes, laughing.

"She's been your girl since we were thirteen. You could have asked her then, and she would have said yes," Emmett said.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't buy her a ring until two days ago. My pop has been giving me pay, and I've been putting a bit in a bank account for the past two years, and I still couldn't get her anything but a gold band. It doesn't have anything that sparkles or anything that girls like," Andy admitted. Andy had never been unhappy with his relatively poor existence. He had everything he needed, and his father and mother worked hard on their farm so that they could live with everything they had. He had just always been a little ashamed of the fact that he couldn't get anything really nice for himself or for those he loved.

"Mary is happy with anything you give her, and you know that," Emmett told him. Andy sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

"Hey, guys, you two hear about the new doctor who just moved in to town with his family?" Tyler asked when he walked over.

"I heard that they were moving in. My mom has been round to the house. Apparently, the doctor sent his wife before him to get the house all ready. Old Billy Worth put in their patio. He says their place is the biggest in Ketchum," Andy said.

"Their nephew and niece live with them, and they're supposed to come tonight," Tyler said excitedly.

"When did they get here?" Emmett asked.

"Around a week ago, right after the Fourth," Tyler said. Emmett shook his head.

"They aren't going to come round this soon. It took me near a month to show up, and I grew up here. I doubt that they want to come round and mingle with us right now," Emmett said. Tyler frowned.

"I heard that the niece was a sight to see," Tyler said.

"Who told you that?" Emmett asked him. Tyler certainly hadn't known about this niece that afternoon.

"Frank did," Tyler said, pointing to Frank who was standing across the room.

"Has Frank seen her?" Emmett asked. Tyler shrugged. "Then how are we supposed to know what she looks like? It could all be from her aunt, you know. For all we know, she's ugly as a toad," Emmett said. Tyler shook his head.

"I hope she isn't; we could use a fresh, pretty face round here," he said.

"My girl has a pretty face!" Andy said, offended.

"She isn't a fresh face, is she? Besides, she is your girl, Andy," Tyler said. Andy looked satisfied at this assurance and they turned back to speculation on the attractiveness of the niece of the doctor.

"Anyone know they're names?" Richie asked.

"Frank said the doctor's called Cullen," Tyler said.

"My ma said his wife was named Esme Cullen," Andy said.

"No one knows their niece and nephew's names?" Emmett asked. They all shook their head. "Then how are we supposed to know that it's them when we actually do meet them?"

"I suppose they'll have to introduce themselves. And it isn't like we won't be able to pick out the two new faces in the crowd, right?" Tyler said.

As it turned out, Dr. Cullen's niece and nephew didn't come that night, or to the next get together Emmett went to some week and a half later. No one had seen them, so no one could confirm the attractiveness of the niece. The doctor made some night house calls and Mrs. Cullen had Andy's mother over for tea as well as Tyler and Emmett's, but neither saw the two teenagers. It got to the point when people started to wonder if the two were sick, or out of town. However, when Frank's father asked after the doctor's family's health during a visit to the office, he was assured that everyone was well and healthy, as well as happy with Ketchum and their new house.

**A/N: **I do intend for them to meet, but I can't have them meet right away! I mean, really. There needs to be some filler stuff first. Review please!


	3. Was it Something I Said?

Twilight Fan Fiction

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: ** Emmett's POV again.

**Disclaimer: ** _Twilight_ isn't mine, you know the drill.

It was July 26th when Emmett drove over to the dance hall without Tyler, who was too tired from trimming the trees on the Worths' property. Emmett, Richie, Andy, and Frank, who had also trimmed that day, had found the energy to go to the dance hall and stand around, talking. No one was dancing, but people rarely did anyway.

"My arms ache so much it's an effort to lift my beer to my lips," Frank said, grimacing as he lifted the bottle to his lips and took a drink. Emmett wasn't drinking anything, since he had to drive himself and Andy home.

"Stop your complaining. It wasn't that hard," Andy said who was used to hard work on his farm.

"Are you kidding? We trimmed about fifteen trees today. They all got buzz cuts," Richie said, grinning.

"We shouldn't even be complaining. Billy Worth gave us thirty dollars between the five of us. That's a good day's work right there," Emmett said. The three of them grunted in agreement. They had nowhere to complain when they got paid good money. Suddenly there was a hush over the people congregated. They all looked towards to the entrance where two people were standing. They were without a doubt the Cullens' niece and nephew. They walked into the hall scanning the crowd.

The nephew had messy bronze hair and was scanning the crowd with purpose. The niece…the niece was certainly a sight to be seen. She was a sight to be stared at, and drunk in. She was perfect, a tall blond with what appeared to be a flawless figure. Both were pale and sported near liquid honey eyes. Emmett's breath caught in his throat as he looked at the niece. No one moved for a long time. Then Mary cleared her throat and walked over to them.

"Hey there, you must be Dr. and Mrs. Cullen's niece and nephew. My name is Mary Derby. It's so nice to finally meet the two of you," Mary said, holding out her hand to shake the nephew's. Andy turned to them and smiled.

"That's my girl," he said proudly.

"Thank you, my name is Edward, and this is my sister, Rosalie," Edward said, shaking Mary's outstretched hand and giving her a crooked grin. Something close to jealousy welled up in Emmett's chest. Why did he have to be so handsome? No way was Emmett going to stand a chance against him. Every girl who didn't have a man was probably already pining after the Cullen boy. Emmett doubted that even Susan would still want to talk to him after this. Not that Susan mattered. On no, Susan was nowhere near his attentions now. Rosalie Cullen had replaced any and every girl Emmett had or would like. She was…she was a goddess. She was like a goddess come round to visit the mortals. She shook Mary's hand without smiling, and Emmett suddenly had a desire to see her smile, to make her smile himself.

"Tyler is going to regret wussing out tonight," Richie whispered.

"Nice to meet you both. This is my best pal, Susan Turnhol," Mary said, waving Susan over. The way she was blushing and glancing shyly at Edward confirmed Emmett's thoughts. Susan was way gone. "And that man sitting there with the bottle in his hand is my fiancé, Andy Bluffton," Mary went on, pointing to Andy. "Sitting by him are Frank Jackson and Emmett McCarty, who are local boys, and then Richie Turner is Emmett's older brother's college buddy who's spending the summer in Ketchum. Tyler McCarty isn't here, but I'm sure you two will be able to meet him soon." Emmett wondered if the two were keeping up with her introductions. He also wondered what Rosalie Cullen thought when she looked at him. It hadn't been too promising, the way her eyes slid over his face.

"Nice to meet you," Richie said, raising his beer bottle at the two of them.

"Can we get you all a beer?" Frank asked.

"No, we don't drink. Our aunt doesn't like it when we do," Edward said.

"Come on now. When you come here, you have to drink something!" Andy said good-naturedly. Edward smiled apologetically, shaking his head no. "Ah, well, come and sit down by us, then," he said, motioning them over. Edward and Rosalie walked over to Andy and Emmett.

"How do all like Ketchum, Idaho?" Emmett asked, opening his mouth for the first time. Rosalie froze where she was standing, one hand on the back of a wooden chair. Edward looked quickly at her. "That bad, huh?" Emmett asked, laughing. Rosalie sucked in a breath and pressed her lips together. Edward's expression changed. It could have been concern, Emmett wasn't sure. "Are you alright?" Emmett asked. Rosalie looked at Edward and closed her eyes tightly before opening them and looking at the group of people in front of her. Then she looked back at Edward quickly.

"I'm sorry, my sister is terribly homesick. Our…our parents died this May, and it was hard on her. Our aunt took us in and thought that it would be better if we moved to a new town. Rosalie's been having a hard time adjusting; that's why we haven't been around yet," Edward explained, placing a hand on Rosalie's shoulder, and looking at her. "Do you want to leave?" he asked quietly as everyone continued to look on. She nodded quickly. "I'm going to take her home, and I'll be back. Sorry," Edward said, leading Rosalie out of the hall. Emmett let out a big sigh right before the door closed, and the two seemed to speed up, and Rosalie's shoulders began to shake.

"Poor thing," Mary said sympathetically. "She lost her parents then had to move here? I feel so bad for her."

"I thought it was something I said," Emmett admitted.

"It sort of was, Emmett," Frank said, laughing at the horrified expression on Emmett's face. "You reminded her that she wasn't home."

"Are you serious? I was trying to be nice! How was I supposed to know that her parents died a couple months ago?" he said.

"Well, I think that Edward Cullen was really sweet, taking her home like that," Susan said, sighing.

"That was nice of him," Mary agreed. Ten minutes later, Edward reappeared.

"My aunt is taking care of her. She'll be alright," he said as he sat down. "It has nothing to do with any of you. She's just sensitive." At his words, Emmett shot a look at Frank.

"So, how do you like Ketchum?" Emmett asked him. Edward considered.

"It's sunny most days," he said. Emmett had to assume that he liked the amount of sun Idaho was getting, since he didn't say so. "Everyone has been very welcoming to us. My aunt said some nice things about your mothers," he went on, looking at Andy and Emmett. "Rosalie and I were exploring the area."

"My ma said that your house was real nice," Andy said.

"Yes, my aunt set it up for us. She has a gift for that sort of thing. It keeps her occupied." No one said anything, all thinking about what to ask next.

"Your aunt must be a real kind lady, taking in you and your sister," Mary said. It might have been a little intrusive, but seeing as it was Mary, who was the nicest girl in Ketchum, no one said anything against her inquiring.

"Yes, well, my mother was her baby sister, and she loved my father like a brother. She thought it was her duty as our aunt to take us in. I have one more year of high school to finish, and Rosalie's going to stay home with me until I graduate so that we can go on to college together," Edward said. That meant that he was seventeen and Rosalie was eighteen.

"Rosalie is going to go to college, too?" Mary asked, surprised. If it was unusual for the boys of Ketchum to go on to college, then it was unheard of that a girl would. Then again, Emmett thought, they weren't from around Ketchum.

"Yes, she is. She wants to study literature." Emmett thought it was odd that a girl would want to go to college to study books. Was she planning on being a librarian when she was older? Edward smiled an amused smile very quickly before looking at Susan. Susan thought that the smile was for her, and she blushed deeply.

Edward was a nice kid; he answered all their questions, and posed his own. He got to hear the family stories from most of the people in the circle. There was a lot of laughing, since all of them were involved in them somehow, and most of the stories had someone doing something that wasn't the smartest. Emmett himself told a couple of anecdotes that included himself and the boys around him, which were all greeted with great amounts of laughter, even tears on Andy's part. But it came time for Andy to get back home; he had to get up early the next morning and work on the farm. Edward walked out with them, saying that he should get back to make sure Rosalie was alright.

"Are you coming to the next get together, Edward?" Emmett asked him as he took out his keys to the pick-up. Edward shrugged.

"I don't know. I might. It depends on Rosalie's mood. I don't want to go to another one without her."

"We scare you if your own your own, huh, Ed?" Andy asked, nudging his shoulder with his. "Man, Ed, you should get on home and put on a sweater! You're as cold as ice." Edward looked at him.

"I'm not cold; my skin's just sensitive to it. I wouldn't be able to tell you why," he explained. Andy laughed.

"Alright, get a move on with you. Your aunt wouldn't be too happy if the first get together you came to you caught a summer cold, especially since you took Rosalie home crying," Andy said, getting into the passenger side of the pick-up's cab. Before Emmett got into his seat, he looked over at the hood and saw Edward climbing into a nice car.

"See you around, Edward," he said, holding a hand up in goodbye. Edward turned and smiled that same crooked smile.

"I guess you will, eventually," he replied. Emmett smiled and shook his head, before getting into the cab and driving Andy home.

**A/N: ** What did you think? They met!!! She left quite the impression, don't you think?


	4. Being a Person Isn't Enough

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Back to Rosalie's POV. I tried to get Carlisle's personality in here, too. I hope you like it and approve.

**Disclaimer:** _Twilight _be not mine.

Rosalie was sitting next to Esme, face buried in her hands when Edward walked into the house. Rosalie felt Esme get up and heard her walk over to Edward. She heard their whispers, though she knew that they were trying to keep quiet.

"I don't know what the matter is, Edward. She hasn't said a thing since you brought her here two hours ago. She says she's waiting for Carlisle. Do you know what happened?" Esme asked softly. Her voice was filled with concern.

"I heard her thoughts when it happened, but I don't understand it. Carlisle will know. She's smart to wait for him, though maybe…maybe she and I should leave for a couple of days, even a week until she calms down."

"I…Edward, I hesitate to ask, but could you tell me what…what she was thinking?" Esme asked. Rosalie looked up from her hands and stood up quickly.

"I will tell you what happened! I walked into that place, and every single person looked at me like I was a piece of meat! I saw every single man's eyes lingering on places that they shouldn't! Then…then…," Rosalie said, unable to continue. She was beyond angry, beyond humiliated, beyond frustrated.

"Rosalie, please, honey, tell me," Esme prompted, walking over to her and putting a hand on her back, rubbing circles in it. Rosalie flinched away from the touch.

"I wanted to kill him! I wanted to—to take him right there! You have _no_ idea what I almost did to those people back there!" she said. She felt almost dirty for her thoughts. She had wanted to _eat_ him. Excess venom pooled in her mouth as she thought about how good he had smelled. "I didn't care! I just wanted to taste him!"

She turned away, disgusted with herself and everything around her. She hated her life. She hated Carlisle for turning her into this monster that would have slaughtered that man. She would have done it too, if the shock hadn't caused her to freeze and stop breathing. He'd spoken to her, and his breath had hit her nostrils. She couldn't move; she couldn't breathe. When he'd spoken again, she had been stupid enough to take in another breath, thinking that maybe she had been imagining it. Everyone in the room had smelled appetizing. She thought that she might have just been overreacting. She'd been wrong, and that was when she had turned to Edward, begging him with her mind to take her away. She'd had to wait as he made their excuses, hoping that no one noticed that she had stopped breathing.

"Oh, Rosalie, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You should be proud of yourself. You showed a great amount of self-control when you walked out of the dance hall without…without harming anyone," Esme said comfortingly, though not moving to touch her again.

"Anyone? I didn't care about anyone else! I just wanted him!" Rosalie nearly shouted. She was losing the patience she had before. She wanted to speak to Carlisle. She needed to understand what was happening.

"Rosalie, I don't understand," Esme said. Rosalie heard her turn away from her, and she guessed that she was looking at Edward for answers.

"Esme, I can't explain either. The one man who was there, Emmett, he…he smells different to Rosalie than he does to me or would to you and Carlisle. I only glimpsed what he smelled like through her mind; I can't explain it more than that. He smells different, that's all."

"That's not it!" Rosalie shouted, turning on Edward. "You don't understand! He didn't just smell different! He smelled mouth-watering; he smelled irresistible! I could taste him in the air! It was like his blood was calling out to me—telling me to drink it, to taste it! Tell me what that means, Edward! Explain that to me!"

"I can't, Rosalie. I have never…nothing is like that for me. Everyone smells good to me; no one smells that much better," he said, shaking his head. "Esme, when is Carlisle supposed to be here?"

"I called the practice. He was making a house call, and the secretary said he would be back when he was done, and that she would tell him then. I don't know how much longer he needed or how far away he was," Esme answered.

"I need to see him! He has to explain this to me. Then I have to go. I can't stay here with that man walking around. I can't be around him. I won't be able to restrain myself if I bump into him on the street. If I see him again, I will kill him," Rosalie said. She had never tasted human blood, and she never wanted to. Yet, she knew that no amount of wanting not to would stop her from taking that man's life. She would kill him and she wouldn't care, she would be so lost in the taste of his blood.

"Rosalie," Carlisle said as he opened the door. He glanced at Edward, who shook his head. "Tell me what happened." He set down his doctor's bag and walked around to stand in front of her. Her gripped her upper arms and stared into her eyes. "Tell me everything. I can help." Rosalie took a deep breath, breathing in Carlisle's sweet scent, slightly tinged with rubbing alcohol.

"We went to that dance hall where all the local youth goes. We haven't gone to one yet, and Edward heard people thinking that it was unusual that no one had seen us yet. We decided we should go. When we got there, everyone stared before one girl introduced herself and everyone else around her. She led us over to a group of four men, where she told us we could sit and talk. One of them opened his mouth and asked me something. Carlisle, he smelled like nothing else I have ever smelled before in my life. It was like his blood was talking to me, calling out to me, telling me to drink it. I froze; I couldn't understand what had happened. When I went to take a breath, I was hit by it again. I could practically taste him on the air. He was six feet away from me. I started thinking about how long it would take me to taste him, to be able to take his life. I wanted to so badly. I told Edward that I had to leave, and he made our excuses and took us here, then went back to talk to them. I needed to talk to you. Edward doesn't understand; I don't understand. All I know is that I want that man's blood more than anything I have ever wanted in my entire existence. I would give anything to have a taste. I would _do_ anything to have it," Rosalie said, forgetting the presence of Esme and Edward as she poured out her feelings to Carlisle.

"I have heard of this, Rosalie," Carlisle said slowly.

"You have?" she breathed.

"Yes, the Volturi know of it. _La tua cantante_. His blood sings for you."

"Is there anything I can do to make it stop singing to me?"

"No, there is nothing you can do that you haven't done already. I am extremely proud of you, Rosalie. What you did in that dance hall was the strongest thing a vampire can do."

"Tell me what to do now. I don't want to be this monster. I don't want to kill him; I can't let myself kill him, but I know that I will if I see him again. I have to leave, Carlisle; we have to leave," Rosalie said. He moved his hands to rest on her shoulders.

"I don't want you to leave, Rosalie, and we can't leave this soon. It would be too suspicious, especially after our stay in your hometown. We need to have a stable, reliable existence for an extended period of time. We need to be consistent. Our family cannot have you leave abruptly forever."

"Then what do you expect me to do? Walk around, waiting for and dreading the time when I see him again? You know what I will do. I will kill him right where he stands. I won't care who sees or what happens to you or this family. It will be over and I will be a monster!" she said loudly, her voice wavering.

"You are not nor will you ever be a monster, Rosalie," Carlisle told her firmly. Rosalie bit her lip.

"I am. I have killed people; you know that. I took my revenge on those men. I took their lives." Carlisle would not condone what she had done, and what had ultimately led up to their leaving the place where she had grown up. But he would not tell her that she was a monster, just as he wouldn't tell Edward he was a monster for the time when he left to feed on criminals and madmen.

"You are strong, Rosalie. The only thing that I can think of to do with you is to let you go into the wild and hunt until you think you are safe enough to come back. You must come back. I will let you go alone, but know that I will trust you to come back," Carlisle said. Rosalie nodded slowly.

"What will you tell people when they ask?" Rosalie said.

"I believe Edward told the people you both met tonight that your parents have died recently. I can diagnose you with depression and tell anyone who enquires that you are in bed, sleeping or indisposed. That will buy you time; I am not sure how much. Edward, Esme, and I will make sure that nothing happens on our end, be sure to do the same on yours."

Rosalie nodded. She was going to go. She was going to go now. She was not sure if she would return; she was not sure if she could. She knew that right now she was no where near strong enough to go near that man again. If she stayed in this town as she was, she would kill him the next time she smelled him. Maybe she wouldn't even wait for that. Maybe she would go to his house and murder him in his bed, loving every second of it. She was up the stairs and in her room in seconds, packing a bag. Edward followed her.

"Rosalie, not every man in that place looked at you as a piece of meat." She didn't say anything. Edward would keep on talking, she knew. "The one who was engaged to that girl didn't think about you that way. He loves that girl. Your singer, he didn't think about you that way. He thought you looked like a goddess." Rosalie was not too far gone to be boosted by this piece of information. A goddess? It would be a shame to kill him if he thought things like that.

"It doesn't matter, Edward. All that man is to me now is blood, the most delicious blood that I have ever smelled."

"His name is Emmett McCarty, Rosalie. He was born on March 7, 1915. His father served in the Great War, and received a medal for gallantry. He broke his left arm falling out of a tree when he was nine years old. He has a fourteen-year-old sister named Margaret Ann, and a twenty-two-year-old brother named Tyler. His mother makes the most delicious homemade lemonade. He likes his hotdogs burnt, and the taste of Cracker Jacks. He wants a business degree, and he's more disappointed than he can say that Babe Ruth retired this year. He feels things and thinks—amusing—things. He is a person, Rosalie, never forget that," Edward said.

She turned to look at him, wondering if he thought that this would somehow prevent her from killing him if she had the chance. She knew that it wouldn't, and that she would forget that he was a person when she tasted his blood on the air and sank her teeth into his neck, letting that liquid heaven flow down her throat. Venom pooled in her mouth once again.

"It's not enough, Edward," she said, and left the house without another word, still unsure if she would ever come back again.


	5. Flower Boxes

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **If you think that time is going by too fast, then I apologize. But in order for it to make sense with some other stuff, I have to move it along. It'll slow down eventually, when the first leg is done. I'm hoping that will be in the next couple of chapters, then I start on the real meat of the story. So, back in Emmett's POV.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_, is, unfortunately, someone else's. Her name is Stephenie Meyer, she's a real cool gal.

Emmett was walking down the street on an overcast mid-August day. He didn't need to anything, and was planning on going to the ice cream shop and buying a malt milkshake. It was hotter than he remembered it being that morning. The dust bowl heat wave was getting to Idaho, it seemed. A woman was walking towards him, holding a purse and an umbrella in her hands. When she got close enough, he saw that it was the doctor's wife. He'd met her briefly at the beginning of August, when his mother had invited her over for tea and gossip. Emmett had met her quickly before leaving to play a baseball game with Andy and the guys.

"Oh, it's nice to see you, Emmett," she said when she was close enough to him.

"You, too, Mrs. Cullen. How are you?"

"I am quite fine, thank you. I was actually heading over to your house. I need some flower boxes put up, and I was going to see if you and your brother could help my Edward," she said, smiling at him. The way that she smiled made him think that she would be fine with any answer he would give her.

"Sure I will. I can go get Tyler, if you want, Mrs. Cullen," he offered.

"Oh, no, I don't want to trouble you. You shall do just fine," she said. Emmett nodded and began walking next to her, back to her house.

"Are you expecting rain, Mrs. Cullen?" She laughed before saying,

"One can never be too careful, Emmett." They walked on in silence, though it was harldy uncomfortable. Mrs. Cullen seemed content just to walk, and he didn't feel the need to fill the silence. He did wonder if she was allowed to ask after her niece, though. He had seen Edward a few times, who told them all that Rosalie was depressed and that their uncle had advised her to stay in bed, resting and relaxing. No one had seen her in near a month. He just cleared his throat to ask after her when they got to her house.

It was the biggest in all of Ketchum, but still managed to fit in with the quaintness of the town. It didn't shout its size to the street; it just seemed to have a bigger square-footage. Flowers were blooming in the front yard garden, all happy and bright. Inside, the layout was open and inviting. He saw a large piano in the parlor.

"That's a big piano you got there," he said. Esme looked at it affectionately, as if it were her own child.

"Edward has quite a gift with music. He composes, too. He is so gifted; I'm blessed to have him," she said, moving through the dining room in its perfection and out onto the patio in the backyard. "Here are the directions and all the supplies you boys will need. I'll just go up and get Edward from his room." She smiled before walking away, back into the house. Emmett was looking over the directions when Edward walked outside.

"Hey there, Emmett," he said, picking up the wood and beginning to hammer them together with precision.

"Have you done this before?" he asked. Edward hesitated and then said,

"I read the directions a couple of times." Emmett nodded. What did he do during the day if he had time to read the assembly instructions for flower boxes more than once? "So, when are you going back to college?" he asked as Emmett started building his own.

"September. I'll be there for about a month before I take a week off to go walking in the Grand Teton area. Andy, Tyler, Frank, Richie and I want to go hiking, see the sights. My father said that the fall is the best time to go," Emmett said.

"Really? You like the wilderness?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Emmett asked him as they both moved onto their second boxes. The wood was already painted the same color as the shutters on the windows. Maybe that was when Edward had decided to read the directions.

"Maybe around here," Edward said. Emmett tried to guess if this was an insult to the people of Ketchum, or something to be glad about. Maybe the people from where he used to live weren't outdoorsy types. Besides, Emmett had heard that the doctor went on camping trips sometimes. "In the city, people like to stick to paved roads," he went on. Ah, so he did like the outside orientation of Ketchum. Well, good man.

They finished the six boxes, and Edward went to fetch a ladder from their garage. Not many people had garages in Ketchum. Emmett's family didn't. They had a shed, but the pick-up stayed outside. His father was thinking about getting a car so that he could drive it around without having to put up with the pick-up's stubbornness. Emmett hoped that he would let him take it to college. He was the only one who really could drive it; he was the only one with the patience and respect it took to drive the old truck. Everyone else got fed up with it, but Emmett knew that it just needed and little time and little love before it would start up, or switch gears.

"You like cars?" Edward asked, carrying the long ladder to the front of the house. Emmett grabbed the six boxes and followed him.

"I know enough about them to know how to fix the problems mine gets. But if were to ask me to fix one of them fancy cars, I would be lost." The car the Cullens drove would be too complicated for him to figure out. It was pretty to look at though, and could probably go a lot faster than his could go. He actually wanted to see. "What about you?"

"I know enough, too. It's Rosalie who is the real car know-how," he said. "You want to put them up while I hold the later, or do you want me to go up?"

"I'm not afraid of heights," Emmett said, setting the pile of flower boxes down, grabbing the top one. He carried the box in his left hand and held the rung with his right. "I am going to need a hammer and some nails, Edward," he said. Edward nodded and walked to the back of the house. He came back with a tool belt, holding the hammer and nails in his pockets. Emmett wrapped it around his waist and went up the ladder. "So, Rosalie is the car buff?"

"Yeah, our father taught her. I didn't have the time for him, and she was his baby girl," he answered. Emmett was still unsure if it was okay for him to ask after her health. Then he suddenly wondered if one of the windows they were putting up the flowers boxes below was hers. He wouldn't look in, of course, he was just curious. Well…maybe, if he saw her walk around he'd tap on the window or something. Then he could start a conversation or something. It would be quite the story to tell. He talked to Rosalie Cullen while standing on a ladder outside of her second-story window while putting up flower boxes.

"Do you mind me asking what happened to your parents?" Emmett asked, glancing through the window. It looked to be some sort of office, probably the doctor's. It had folders spread around the desk, and a bunch of paintings on the far wall.

"It was a car crash, actually," he said. Emmett nodded. If there was ever a time to ask after Rosalie, now was it.

"I heard that your sister was depressed. Is she any better?" he asked, climbing down the ladder to move it to the next window.

"She comes down to eat, which is an improvement from two weeks ago. But she mostly stays in her room and sleeps, or reads," Edward said. He looked worried. Emmett nodded. Would it be okay if he went on?

"It didn't suddenly happen after I talked to her, did it? I'd hate to think I set her off, or something," he said, climbing up the ladder.

"That night was when she finally broke down, yes, but I think that it had been coming on for a long time," Edward told him. The room through the window looked empty, the bed's flowered comforter unruffled. He saw closet doors, one slightly ajar. He could only make out clothes, and lots of them. That was a lot of clothes. Maybe Mrs. Cullen made clothes?

"That's too bad," he said.

"Yeah, it is," Edward said, and he sounded it. They talked about baseball and football for the rest of the time, since Emmett couldn't bring himself to talk anymore about Rosalie. He wanted to, but he thought that Edward might start getting suspicious. Politeness only took you so far before it started becoming nosiness. Plus, he knew that if his sister was depressed after their parents had died, he wouldn't want to discuss it too much, either, and would appreciate people dropping the subject.

That night Emmett was eating dinner with Tyler and Margaret Ann, since their parents were at a dinner at one of their father's war comrade's house. They had elected to stay home. Emmett had always loved listening to the war stories, and he'd love to hear their speculation on the probability of another war breaking out, but he knew that if he agreed to go, Tyler and Margaret Ann would have to go too. They would hate him for the rest of the night if he forced them to go.

"So, how are the Cullens?" Tyler asked. Emmett grinned. Tyler was still caught up on the fact that he had elected to stay home the only night that Rosalie had made an appearance. He was more jealous of Emmett than he would ever admit.

"Fine."

"Did you see Rosalie?"

"No, Edward said that she was still holed up in her room most of the time, and I guess her room is in the back of the house, since I didn't see anyone in the rooms that I put up the flower boxes under."

"That's too bad."

"Can I be excused?" Margaret Ann asked. Tyler and Emmett nodded, and she went upstairs to her room, most likely to continue coloring. She really would never grow up.

"Emmett, how bad do you want Rosalie Cullen?" Tyler asked seriously. Emmett looked up from his empty plate. He was going to say something funny, most likely poking fun at Tyler's own desire to see her, but instead to answer seriously since Tyler had asked seriously.

"More than anything I have ever wanted, Tyler," he said. He nodded.

"So, you aren't ever going to talk to Susan, are you?" he asked, a slightly playful edge creeping into his voice.

"Are you kidding? Susan doesn't matter anymore. Besides, even if she did, she doesn't want to talk to me anymore. She is head over heals in love with Edward Cullen." Tyler snorted.

"Are you sad that your number one fan has found someone else to root for?"

"Not at all."

"Because you have your own girl, huh?" Emmett laughed.

"Yeah, because I got my own girl."

"I find it funny that after not talking to Susan for your whole life, you are the one who wants to talk to a girl," Tyler observed, grinning.

"Well, at least I know what I want. You got a girl that you want?"

"Not yet, my brother, not yet. But I will, mark my words. When I find someone special, I'm not going to hesitate." Emmett laughed. He wouldn't hesitate, either. If he saw Rosalie again, he was going to ask her out on a date, no matter if she probably didn't know his name. He really did hope he got to see her before he went back to college.

As his luck would have it, he didn't. He left on September 2, the day that the hurricane hit Florida, without seeing her at all. He was more disappointed than he could say. He was also more determined to see her again. When he got home from his trip with Andy, his brother, Frank, Richie and he were going on, he was going to go over to her house, and talk to her. It didn't matter that her eyes had slid over his face. She was a goddess, and by God, he would make sure that she looked at him, and noticed him, because he was going to make her his. That was for sure.

**A/N: **So, yes, Emmett is smitten with Rosalie, and who wouldn't be at this point? She is gorgeous. Also, I am hinting at a few things with the pick-up truck. Don't think it's about Bella's pick-up. It's more about Emmett's ability to put up with the stubborn things, and coax them to make them do what he wants. Get it now? If you don't put it in your review, and I'll answer it, or keep on reading, and I'll explain.


	6. When Cowardice Saves a Life

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Okay, so I just wanted to say how surprised I was when I checked my mail today and saw that I had six reviews for this chapter, and that it had been put onto peoples' favorites and story alerts! I know that six isn't a lot, but it was after less than 24 hours! I was so surprised and happy. So I just wanted to say thank you to anyone and everyone who did! So, anyway, this is chapter is in Rosalie's POV again, hope you enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** _Twilight_ isn't my story, because if it was, this wouldn't be a fan fiction.

She'd been wandering the wilderness for over a month. It was after September 1st, she knew that, and she knew that she had left on July 26th. Rosalie hadn't bathed since the day before she left, and her hair was knotty and her clothes were worn. Under normal circumstances, she would never let herself look like this. Her human self would cringe away from the way she looked now. That acknowledgement made her sad and disgusted with herself. She wouldn't be where she was now if she was still alive. But she would be dead if she wasn't the way she was now. It was a double end short. No matter which way she looked, she was still not the way she wanted to be. Rosalie was either dead or undead, and it wasn't like she could go back to dead now.

She had decided that she would wait for him to leave. She knew that he went to college. She just didn't know when he was going to go away. She thought that after the first of September would be safe. Then she had been a coward and stayed in the wilderness longer than she was planning on at that point. Rosalie couldn't bring herself to risk it. She couldn't let herself slip at all. She was pretty sure that she wouldn't be thirsty for weeks when she got back. She fed nearly every day. But, she was still afraid that it wouldn't matter at all if she met Emmett on the street.

Edward had been right when he told her about Emmett McCarty. Rosalie had familiarized herself with all of the information that Edward had given her, going over them in her head when she got too caught up in thinking about how good his blood smelled. It was her mantra. _His name is Emmett McCarty. He was born on March 7, 1915. _She would think about him sometimes, wholly unrelated to the way he smelled. She wondered what had happened when he had fallen out of that tree. She wondered if he had cried or if his older brother carried him home or took him to the doctor. She wondered how he fallen out of the tree in the first place. Had he meant to jump down? Had he lost his grip? When she was done thinking about the tree, she would think about his family. She wondered what his little sister looked like, and what his mother's voice sounded like. It was like she was creating a life for him in her mind, building images of a life and a family that would miss him if she killed him. She made him so real in her mind, that it was almost impossible to get by the fact that he was a person.

Rosalie also thought about what Edward had told her about what he had thought about her. Emmett McCarty had thought she had looked like a _goddess_. Every woman, vampire or not, would love to be called a goddess. This fed Rosalie's more conceited, self-centered self. She was buoyed every time she thought about it. It would run through her mind right after her mantra. _He thinks I'm a goddess. A goddess_. She had been called beautiful and exquisite, and a prize, but she had never been called a goddess. It was something that made her smile whenever she thought about it.

In truth, Rosalie had fallen a little in love with Emmett McCarty, and it had nothing to do with the way he smelled. He had spoken three sentences to her, and she had let her eyes slide over him. She could only call to mind dark, curly hair and a muscled physique. She wished that he hadn't smelled so good so that she could have been looking at him when he had laughed, to see the way his face looked when he did. Yet, she knew that if he hadn't smelled so irresistible, she would not care about him at all. She would not be in the wilderness, giving him a life and vitality in her mind. She would not be lingering on his comments, or the trivial facts of his life. She would just see him as a part of a town she hated, if she thought about him at all. This was also a double end short. She wanted to remember his face and body in her mind, but she could not because she had not been paying attention when she had smelled him. All she had been thinking about was getting out or sinking her teeth into his veins. But if he had not smelled so good, she would not want to know his face.

With this renewed knowledge, she started running home. She was stronger and faster than she had been since she had ceased to be a newborn. She could almost feel herself have the same strength and speed and agility as she had had at that time. She hadn't been able to use up all that pent up energy coursing through her veins as her human blood fed her body. Rosalie was full of the substitute for it, and it almost gave the same effect. She was standing on the border to Ketchum in no time at all. Her hair was windswept and knotty, she had dirt on her clothes, and she suspected on her face, too. She wondered what people were thinking. Had Carlisle managed to cover for her, or had her extended absence been too suspicious?

The only thing she could do was hope for the best.

The sun wasn't out and it was nearly dark. She didn't see anyone around, so she ran to the house she would now live in with her family. Besides missing and dwelling on Emmett McCarty, she had missed Esme's tenderness and Edward's thoughtfulness and Carlisle's compassion. These things she had never had in her old life. She had lived her life as a beauty, something to be looked at and coveted and admired, but she had never been thought of as a person, needing love and understanding. She had been happy with her shallow life, devoid of everyday emotions and familial feelings. Here, in this life, she had a loving mother and father and a considerate brother who knew everything she was thinking. Sometimes he could be frustrating, but he had never been cruel to her.

Edward was standing by the back door, facing the backyard when she got there. Light was pouring from the open door. She wondered if he had heard her thoughts or had just heard her. He was smiling, she could see that.

"Rosalie, you came back," he said, walking over to her and embracing her in a sign of affection she had not seen from him thus far.

"I know I did," she said, walking with him into their house.

"Carlisle was sure that you would, but I knew better," he said. Rosalie didn't say anything. She assumed Carlisle was out making his usual house calls, but she thought that Esme would be home. "Esme's at the Bluffton farm, having dinner with the Blufftons. I was invited, but elected to stay home to watch after you." Rosalie had almost forgotten that Carlisle, Esme, and Edward had to pretend that she was upstairs, depressed. Somehow, she had just assumed that when Carlisle told people that she was not to be disturbed, she would fall out of conversation. She had thought that the family would just be as if she was never there. It was something of a reality check hearing Edward's words. They had been keeping up their end of the bargain, and she nearly didn't keep her end. It was a humbling conclusion.

"When is she supposed to be back?"

"I have no idea. Apparently Mrs. Bluffton is garrulous. I haven't met her, but I've heard the people around here talk about her, even her son does." Rosalie nodded.

"Is…is Emmett still in town?" she asked quietly, following Edward up the stairs. If he was still in town, Rosalie would leave until he wasn't. Edward shook his head slowly.

"He left on the second, about a week ago." Relief flooded through her. She was safe. She didn't need to worry about running into him and eating him. It looks like she had been right not to come back on the first of September. She could only imagine what would have happened. In fact, she had imagined it. She had delighted in the possibility of tasting his blood at one blood. But now she didn't need to, he was gone and she was safe.

"That's good news," she said.

"It is, Rosalie." He turned and looked at her, his eyes probing hers, and she suspected, reading her thoughts at the same time. "You need a bath," he said finally. "I can't believe you let yourself go like this." Suddenly, her relief was gone. She was angry, and offended, and embarrassed because she knew it was true.

"Well, I apologize, Edward, for not bathing while I was trying not to _kill_ someone. Next time, I'll make sure to kill him to forgo a little dirt!" Then she pushed past him, hearing a gratifying thud as he hit the wall Carlisle's cross was hanging on and the succeeding noise of the cross falling off its hook. She stormed into her pristine, untouched room and slammed the door. It broke off its hinges. She didn't care. Rosalie was walking toward the bathroom attached to her room, the one she had taken her last bath in. That door she didn't slam, but it didn't close without force.

She looked in the mirror, horrified with what she found. Her hair had never, in all of her life, been this messy or raggedy. Her face had more dirt on it than she had originally thought. Her clothes seemed more worn and tatty in the light above the mirror. She looked like a vagabond. She was glad that no one had seen her. Imagine what they would have thought! Rosalie made a decision then. No matter what happened to her, she would never let herself look like this again. She could meet a hundred more blood singers and she could run away into the wilderness a hundred more times, but she would never, _ever_ let herself be reduced to this…beggar-like appearance.

She turned on the bath tap, making as hot as it would go. Then she nearly tore off her clothes. She would burn them, she was sure. She never wanted to look at the disgusting things again. They were a reminder of her shame. When the bath was filled, she turned the faucet off and climbed in. It felt nice, just lying in the water. But she didn't like the way that it turned slightly brown when she washed her hair and body. Disgusted with this turn of events, she emptied the water and refilled it, this time putting in bubble bath. When she had a new, clean, bubbly bath, she closed her eyes.

_His name is Emmett McCarty. He was born on March 7, 1915. His father served in the Great War, and received a medal for gallantry. He broke his left arm falling out of a tree when he was nine years old. He has a fourteen-year-old sister named Margaret Ann, and a twenty-two-year-old brother named Tyler. His mother makes the most delicious homemade lemonade. He likes his hotdogs burnt, and the taste of Cracker Jacks. He wants a business degree, and he's more disappointed than he can say that Babe Ruth retired this year. He thinks I'm a goddess. A goddess…_

_His name is Emmett McCarty. He was born on March 7, 1915. His father served in the Great War, and received a medal for gallantry. He broke his left arm falling out of a tree when he was nine years old. He has a fourteen-year-old sister named Margaret Ann, and a twenty-two-year-old brother named Tyler. His mother makes the most delicious homemade lemonade. He likes his hotdogs burnt, and the taste of Cracker Jacks. He wants a business degree, and he's more disappointed than he can say that Babe Ruth retired this year. He thinks I'm a goddess. A goddess. _

Her mantra calmed her and soothed the utter humiliation she had felt when she had seen her own reflection. In her head, Emmett McCarty became more vibrant. It was like she was conjuring him in front of her. It was like she was making him real. She was bringing him with her into the bath. She blushed as she thought this. Well, maybe not into the bath…

There was a knock on the door. Rosalie was brought away from her slightly inappropriate thoughts, no matter how unintentional they had been.

"Yes?" she asked, wondering if it was Edward coming to apologize for the way he had spoken to her. But then again, she knew that if he wanted to say sorry for something, he would not come tapping on her bathroom door. He would wait until she was finished, if he wanted to apologize at all, which she suspected he didn't.

"Rosalie? Honey?" It was Esme. Of course it was Esme. Esme would come to see her the minute that she walked in the door and was told that she was back home, whether she had to tap on the bathroom door or not. Suddenly, Rosalie felt guilty for breaking the door in her rage. She really needed to learn how to control her strength when she was angry at Edward. She would end up destroying the house.

"Yes, it's me," she answered. Should she just apologize for the door? It had not been very nice of her to leave for over a month and after only being in the house again for fifteen minutes, break down her door.

"I'm so glad you're home. I was worried." Esme really should not have been worried. It was not as if something could hurt Rosalie.

"I'm sorry, Esme," she said instead. She really should not be making fun of her concern. It was a sweet, motherly thing to do. And hadn't Rosalie just been thinking over the fact of how much she appreciated the motherliness of Esme?

"You don't have to apologize, Rosalie. I'm just glad to have you home."

"I'm glad to be home, Esme," she said truthfully. She hadn't wanted to come to Ketchum, Idaho, but she had a family here, and that made it her home for however long they stayed.

**A/N: ** So, yes, Rosalie is beginning to feel more accepting of her situation, but you know, she has to. Also, now you know that she likes Emmett too! Reviews, please.


	7. Campfire Conversations

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, yes, I am updating the same with three chapters (this is the second!). It happens. I couldn't just not continue writing, and I didn't think that it would be fair if I had more of the story ready, but didn't post it. I hope you appreciate it. You can show your appreciation with a review! P.S. This is a filler. I'm trying to build up Emmett's life, and this is how I am doing it.

**Disclaimer:** Yeah, so like, _Twilight_ isn't like, mine. Like.

"Alright," Andy said as he pulled out the map from his backpack. "We are to the east of Lake Leigh. We can camp here for the night, or we can find somewhere else." Richie moaned.

"I can't go any farther," he whined. Richie hadn't grown up like the rest of them. He was a city boy, and was hardly accustomed to the vigorous pace of the Ketchum boys. Emmett laughed.

"You got blisters, Richie?" he asked. Richie nodded, wincing. "You should have broke those boots in before you came."

"I know! I know, alright? Now can we please set up our tents so I can _sleep_?" he pleaded. Tyler glanced at Emmett, eyes glinting mischievously.

"I don't know," he said, grinning wickedly, "I could go for another couple of miles. We still have about an hour of daylight left, and it would be better to camp on higher ground…"

"Tyler, I swear to God, I will kill you if you make me walk another _foot_," Richie growled. Tyler just laughed.

"Come on, we should just set up camp here, and Tyler, I'll go on a walk with you, if you want," Frank said, acting peace-maker.

"Yes, you and Frank can go on a midnight stroll while we all relax," Emmett said. This was greeted to enormous laughter.

"Emmett! Keep your thoughts to yourself!" Tyler said, taking off his pack and setting it on the ground. Emmett laughed. Tyler was certainly sensitive, wasn't he? It was impossible to stop now…

"Come on, now, Tyler, you'll hurt Frank's feelings." Frank was turning beet red with anger, embarrassment, or amusement. It was hard to tell on Frank. Then he burst out laughing, and Emmett knew which one it was.

"Yes, Ty, don't hurt my feelings," he laughed. Tyler was near shaking with anger.

"Enough, you all, we have to get our tents up. Emmett, you want to take them out of your pack?" Andy said, acting the mature one. He had decided that he needed to mature on this trip, since he was going to be a married man, and all. Emmett thought that he might as well enjoy the last chances he had of being a complete goof before he had to be responsible. This hiking trip was about as close as a bachelor party as he was going to get. Besides, it would take a lot more time than a couple of weeks for Andy to grow up from the perpetual thirteen-year-old he normally acted like.

Emmett took off his backpack. Since he was the strongest, he had been given the three tents that they were using for the weeklong trip. Andy and Frank shared a tent, and Richie and Tyler shared a tent. Emmett got his own because he was the biggest, and he carried them. Also, Tyler insisted that he snored. But he got the smallest tent, so it really wasn't that much of a reward. The five of them got to putting up the tent and setting up camp. Emmett was in charge of the food, because he was the only one who could make decent hotdogs over a fire.

By the time they had all eaten, it was dark and too late to go out exploring the area. It would have to wait until the morning when they packed up to leave. So they sat around the fire, talking.

"Hey, Emmett, did you hear that Rosalie Cullen isn't depressed anymore?" Andy asked. Emmett looked over at him. He was grinning. He had known that this was the one guaranteed subject that would have Emmett's total attention.

"Yeah, who from?" he asked.

"My mom had her and Mrs. Cullen over for afternoon tea. She said that she was real polite, and gracious. Said that she was a right fine lady. I wonder what kind of people her parents were, if she acted so proper at our house," Andy said.

"Did you talk to her?" Tyler asked. He was still green with jealousy over not having seen Rosalie himself.

"Nope. My pa had me working that day. Even if I had finished before they had left, I wouldn't have talked to her. I would have smelled right repugnant to her," Andy said.

"Hey, well I saw her in the market, buying sugar," Frank put in. They all looked at him. "I said hello, that was all."

"What did she say to you?" Richie asked, seeming to recover from his blisters and sore feet.

"She said hello back and asked me how I was."

"I thought that you said that all you said to her was 'hello,'" Tyler shot at him.

"Well, yes, at first," Frank said. "You don't expect me to ignore a question after my well-being, do you?" Tyler grunted in reply. "I told her that I was fine, and asked how she was feeling. She told me that she was much better, and that was the end of it. There isn't any more," Frank said. Emmett shook his head.

"I wish I could have seen her before I left. I never would have thought that I would dislike college, but right now I do. If I hadn't been going, I could have talked to her," he said. Andy rolled his eyes.

"You are one lovesick puppy, aren't you?" Emmett sighed, nodding his head.

"Eh, you would probably send her into tears again," Tyler said, grinning impishly at him.

"It wasn't my fault! I didn't say a thing that was out of line! Her parents died this May, if you recall, Tyler," Emmett said, getting incensed for reasons that he couldn't explain. He didn't want people thinking that he had hurt her feelings. What if she had thought that he had hurt her feelings? Man, that would make it hard for him to ask her out on a date. No matter. Nothing was going to stop him. He would buy her flowers and chocolates until she forgave him and agreed. He was determined.

"Maybe you just scared her," Tyler went on, exacting his revenge for Emmett's teasing.

"Oh yeah, how would I did I do that?" Emmett asked.

"Just by sitting there. Emmett, you are one big guy, if you don't know." Emmett shook his head. There wasn't anything he could do about that.

"Alright, alright. Emmett has got a thing for Rosalie. We all know. Let's forget about that for now, and talk about my wedding. You, Emmett are going to be my best man. Start writing your speech. I want it to be a good one," Andy said.

"Thanks, Andy. You'll be my best man, too, when I marry Rosalie Cullen," Emmett said.

"If that ever happens," Tyler scoffed.

"It's gonna!" Emmett shot back at him.

"Okay, agreed," Andy said. "However, the date of your wedding still has to be announced right along with the bride being secured. As for _my_ wedding, I know both when it's going to be held and that my bride is going to be there when it is. So, in case you fellas can't remember, my wedding is on the 15th of October. Be there, or I'm not talking to you ever again. Understand?" He looked everyone in the eye.

"We'll all be there, you know that, Andy," Frank said. Andy nodded.

"I'll be sure to throw you the garter, Emmett, and I'll get Mary to aim for Rosalie with the bouquet," Andy said, winking at him. Tyler laughed at that. It was then decided that it was time to sleep. They put out the fire and climbed into their tents. Emmett lay in his tent, arms crossed behind his head, thinking about Rosalie Cullen as he fell asleep.

**A/N: **Yes, yes, Emmett really likes Rosalie. These poor people...they don't know what's going to happen....


	8. Compasses Can't Fight Grizzlies

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Here's the third new chapter. I might update (again) later tonight. I'm still writing, I just don't know how prudent it would be to update with more than three chapters in one day. Anyway, I was shaking while I wrote this one. I'll explain at the end in my post-chapter author note. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, so I'm going to just say that _Twilight_ isn't mine. Duh.

In the morning, they set off. They weren't sure where they wanted to go, but they had a compass, so they knew where they were and how to get back to where they had been. Besides, there were trails that they followed.

"I think that we should go to Bear Lake," Tyler announced. Everyone considered that.

"Come on, Tyler, I don't think it would be smart walking right into Grizzly territory, do you?" Emmett asked. He intended to get back home. He didn't want to be eaten by a Grizzly that was for sure. He had to ask out Rosalie, and being dead would put a damper on his plans.

"This whole park is Grizzly territory. What difference would it really make?" Tyler said.

"Well, for one, Tyler, it is called _Bear Lake_. It's practically guaranteed that we would run into one. Do you want to run into a nine-hundred pound Grizzly this week? Because I sure as hell don't," Emmett told him.

"Come on, Emmett, live a little," Tyler encouraged. Emmett shook his head. He wasn't going to go to Bear Lake.

"I'm getting married when we get back. That can't happen if I'm mauled by a Grizzly," Andy said. Emmett nodded.

"You aren't going to get mauled by a Grizzly, Andy," Tyler said. Andy shook his head, too. He wasn't going, either. Emmett was reminded why he was friends with him.

"Tyler, it's too far, anyway. We wouldn't be able to hike there and get back in time," Frank said, playing the mediator again. This argument would be hard to beat. Tyler looked to Richie, his last possible ally. Richie shook his head.

"I am not walking any more than I have to," he said. Tyler sighed, admitting defeat.

"You are all a bunch of pansies. A Grizzly couldn't be any bigger than Emmett," he muttered. So it was decided that Bear Lake wouldn't be on there agenda. They went on. They stopped at a ledge. It had a good view of the mountains. They took a break and pulled out their lunches.

"I am starving," Richie announced, biting into his beef jerky. "I could eat a whole cow at this point."

"Richie, I'm starting to think you're the real pansy here," Tyler said.

"If being hungry makes me a pansy, then I am a pansy."

"It isn't just you being hungry," Emmett said. "It's you wearing new hiking boots and getting blister and whining _and_ being so hungry. You really need to toughen up, Rich."

"I like being soft," he said. Tyler threw a piece of jerky at him.

"You are such a pansy," he said. Richie shrugged, accepting it. Emmett finished off his food first and went to the ledge.

"It isn't that far down there. Do you think we could find a trail to get down there?" he asked. It was a little over twelve feet. They could even jump down…No, it was too far for jumping. There had to be a trail or something.

"I don't know. Maybe a little farther down. Or maybe this ledge goes lower to meet it," Frank said.

"I'd like to find it," Emmett said, turning around to look at them. "Come on, let's go." Suddenly, he felt the ground move underneath him. He turned around back around just to feel the ground give way. It was like a miniature landslide. "Whoa!" he shouted as he went down, his feet sinking into the loosened earth as he slid down the ledge. He ended up sitting on the ground at the bottom. He wasn't hurt, he was just really dirty. He heard the others' shouts. It couldn't have taken him more than five seconds to get down. They probably didn't even have enough time to react.

"Emmett! Emmett! Are you alright?" he heard Tyler call. He was standing at the edge of the cliff. Emmett stood up, brushing off dirt from his pants. He looked up at them.

"Yeah, I'm fine!"

"How are you going to get back up here?" Andy asked, appearing next to his brother.

"I'll just find that trail we were just talking about. You guys wait there. I'll go looking for it. Can't be too far, can it?" he asked. Frank appeared, shaking his head.

"This is a story to tell, that's for sure," he said. Richie wasn't too far behind him.

"Do you really think it's a good idea just to go off on your own?" Richie asked. Emmett shook his head.

"I have a compass. I can find my way back if I get lost. Besides, you know where I am. If I don't come back in say, forty-five minutes, you all, two of you get down here and look for me. How about that?" he suggested. They considered this.

"I don't know…" Andy said, looking doubtful.

"Emmett can handle it. Our pops told us how to navigate. He knows what he's doing, and we know where he'll be, generally speaking," Tyler said.

"Forty-five minutes, Emmett, that's all you've got," Frank said. Emmett nodded.

"I'll see you then," Emmett said, heading to the left, where the trail up on the ledge continued. He walked along the bottom of the ledge, checking the compass to make sure what direction he was going in. Soon, the four of them were out of his sight, and the ledge disappeared not too long after, trees blocking it. But he continued northwest, like his compass told him. He couldn't be sure if he was going to find the meeting trail at all. But he figure that if he didn't find it in another half an hour, he would turn back, just in time to hit the forty-five minute time he had allotted himself. He would meet whichever two came down, and then they would find another way back up. Maybe they would go in the other direction.

Emmett wasn't worried at all. In fact, it was calming not having to listen to the other four talk. It wasn't as if he didn't enjoy being in their company. It was just that now that he was alone, he could appreciate the different colors of the trees. Some were red, some were orange, some were yellow, and some were brown. There were pine trees, too, their pine needles green. It really was pretty. He looked at his watch. He had ten more minutes. He checked the compass. Yep, he was still going northwest. He looked up to where the ledge had been. It looked a lot higher up. So maybe going left was wrong. He would just turn around in seven minutes and head back. Then he would meet up with the other two, and they would go right together. It was that simple.

There was a grunting, and Emmett looked to his right, in the direction he had heard it. There was nothing there, and he wondered if maybe it was his stomach. But his stomach didn't actually grunt, it more growled or gurgled. Or maybe he was hearing things. It didn't matter. He still had five minutes. He heard the grunting again. It sounded closer. Emmett stopped. He scanned the area, and didn't see anything move in around the brown trunks of the trees. He continued. He looked at his watch. Ooh, he had been going for fifty minutes. He paused, looked up to make sure that the ledge was getting any closer to the ground, and then he looked forward, to see if maybe the meeting point was in sight. If it was, he would just hurry over to it and walk that way. The ledge didn't look any closer, and he didn't see any meeting point. Emmett shrugged. Ah well, left hadn't been right. It looked as if right was right. He smiled as he turned around. And froze.

Standing some thirty yards away was a large Grizzly. It grunted. Emmett's heart started pounding. What was he supposed to do? He knew that Grizzlies were fast, and that he wouldn't be able to outrun it. He also knew that the "safe distance" was 100 yards. That Grizzly was a lot closer than a hundred yards. The other two guys wouldn't be anywhere near here. Emmett was trapped. The Grizzly grunted again, this time louder. Emmett's heart was pounding in his ears, and he realized he was breathing heavily. His hands were shaking with fear.

The Grizzly grunted one more time more running at him.

**A/N: **Okay, so yeah, I was shaking while I was writing this because I knew what was going to happen (and you all did too) but I still couldn't help being well, scared for poor Emmett. I mean, he gets _mauled_ by a Grizzly. Oh yeah, sorry that this is a cliff-hanger. (Well, kind of, since you all know what happens next). I promise I'm not going to go into detail about the actual mauling. I wouldn't be able to write it. Besides, I don't really want to think about that (and neither does my stomach. I don't think it could take it.) So review for me, please!


	9. Thoughts of Love Amidst Death

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Okay, I don't want to waste too much of your time with this, since I left it as a cliff-hanger before, but I just want to thank everyone who has been adding this story to their favorites, or story alerts, or reviewing. I especially want to acknowledge ShinySewage, who is my biggest fan at this point. Thanks for reviewing every chapter so far! Anyway, hope you enjoy. Today's going to be another three chapter update (at this point).

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_...yeah, it's not mine.

Rosalie was running, letting her nose guide her. She smelled some deer, but didn't want them. What she wanted was something big. Maybe a wildcat or bear. A bear would be perfect. It had a lot of blood in it. She didn't know when Emmett McCarty would be coming home, so she was feeding often. Then she caught the scent of something delicious. Could an animal smell that good? She needed to find out…

She was sprinting towards the delicious smell. It reminded her of something…she couldn't quite place it…it was so potent. Maybe the animal was wounded and was bleeding already and that was why it smelled so strong? She was close now. She could actually hear it. It was grunting, so maybe it was injured.

Rosalie broke through the trees and halted in her tracks. There was a large Grizzly on top of a man. A man that Rosalie knew. A man that smelled so good. She could see blood and she wanted to taste it. She wanted just a little taste. It wasn't like that would be wrong, right? She had to think this out…he was going to die. Would it be so wrong to kill the bear first, then end his misery by drinking his blood? It would be quicker and whole lot less painful. It would almost be a mercy killing. Rosalie halted her thoughts. A _mercy killing_? What was she thinking? She was on the bear before she thought anymore horrid thoughts. The bear reared back, trying to dislodge her. She sunk her teeth into its neck and drank as fast as she could. She was sloppy. She could feel blood escape her mouth and get on her hands and clothes. It seemed like an age before the bear finally collapsed. She drank it all, wanting as much self-control as she could muster. She needed to be well-fed if she wanted to get any closer to Emmett McCarty.

When she had drank all she could from the Grizzly, she jumped off its back. It had slumped forward onto Emmett, and Rosalie was suddenly afraid that he was crushed. She picked the bear up and tossed it aside. Emmett was groaning. Rosalie was amazed that he was still alive. Through this amazement, she was slightly sickened. He was bleeding profusely. He had gashes everywhere, on his face, on his arms and legs, across his stomach. She could see torn flesh through his ripped clothes, and was struck by how fragile the human being was. Then she realized she was just staring at him, thinking about how horrible he looked. Why wasn't she doing anything?

She took in a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts. His strong, irresistible blood hit her with fill force. She stopped breathing. She couldn't be smelling him when she needed to decide what to do. She looked at his face and he grimaced. That's when she saw them. Emmett McCarty had dimples, just like baby Henry had. How could she not have seen those dimples? How had she just let her eyes slide over them? They were right there, plain as day, even as he was grimacing in pain, even though he was a grown man.

After seeing the dimples in his cheeks, something clicked in Rosalie's mind. She couldn't just watch him die. She couldn't just _let_ him die. She needed to save him, and the only way that was possible was to bite him. In order for Emmett McCarty to live, he had to become a vampire. She leaned over him, opening her mouth. Venom was pooling her mouth. He moved again, shouting in pain this time. She froze. She couldn't do this. She wouldn't have the control to stop. She would kill him as she tried to save him. Rosalie wasn't strong enough. The only person who was strong enough was Carlisle, and he was 184 miles away. She looked at Emmett. Would he make it 184 miles?

He would have to, that was all. Rosalie stopped breathing and picked him up. He screamed in pain. It was horrible. She couldn't even say anything to him without risking inhaling his scent. Even though she couldn't smell him, she felt his wet, hot, sticky blood on her skin and on her clothes. Her nose remembered what he smelled like, and venom pooled in her mouth again. She was running. She was running as fast as she could. It was a good idea, drinking all of that bear's blood. It was giving her the energy to go a little faster than normal. Emmett opened his eyes and looked at her. She was holding him away from her body, trying not to touch him. She was sure that it would hurt if his arm touched anything.

Emmett croaked something. She didn't catch it. She was too focused on controlling her urge to stop, breathe him in, and sink her teeth into his neck, or lap up the blood that was all over him, and now her. The bottom part of her hair was tinged red. If anyone saw them, though that was highly unlikely at the speed she was going, it would be a garish, grotesque sight. She didn't want to know what she looked like, carrying this ruined man in her arms, droplets of blood flying behind her, leaving a tiny trail. He opened his mouth again, but no sound came out this time, just a gurgling cough, ending in a dribble of blood leaking out of the side.

He was in a bad shape. Rosalie was terrified that she would not get to Carlisle in time or that he wouldn't be home or that if Emmett was still alive when she got home and Carlisle was there, that it would be too late. Carlisle had told her that the venom could only heal so much. She was afraid that Emmett would be too close to the edge of death that even vampire venom would not be enough to bring him back again. It was with these thoughts that she flitted through the trees and across streams and over hills and through valleys.

Then there was always, always that burning desire to just give up this race against time and death and end it all herself. She could end it by turning him herself, or she could end it by killing him herself. It was a fierce battle that she waged. She was weighing the consequences of each as he continued to cough up blood and croak and groan and shout and scream. If she wanted to turn him herself, she was sure that she would not have the amount of self-control that it would take to stop herself. She was positive that she would keep on going, going way beyond the time when he stopped breathing. But if she just bit him to drink from him, to taste him and let his blood flow down her throat and through her veins, could she live with that? Could she live with the knowledge that she killed the man that was so vibrant and full of life in her mind? Could she kill a brother and a son? Could she kill his life? That, she also knew with certainly, she could not do.

When his coughs began becoming more aggressive, more body-racking, she was panicked that a fleck of his blood would land on her lips. She was afraid that if that happened, she would not be able to resist the temptation to let her tongue flick out and taste it. If she did, if she had that tiny taste, she would abandon this whole thing and finish him. Rosalie had already decided that was not an option. So she just hoped and prayed that his blood wouldn't land on her lips. She could resist if it landed anywhere else on her face. There it would be a nuisance, something that marred her appearance. She would not want to lick something that made her look bad, like some murderer.

Emmett started to convulse. She nearly dropped him. Rosalie held him a little tighter, trying not to break him. If she were to break his neck or spine after all this struggle, she would never be able to forgive herself. It would have all been a waste…She had no other choice but to hold him closer, against her body. She was struck by how odd this was. Emmett McCarty was a grown man, and a large man at that, and here she was cradling him and carrying him like a baby. It was as close as she got to doing any sort of motherly action. But she knew that she could never think of herself as Emmett's mother. His existence was too wrapped around her attraction to him and the things he thought about her to make him invoke any sort of explicitly familial affection. He was man, and she saw him as such.

How was it that she could be thinking about him this way when he was shuddering in her arms, bloodied and marred by a bear attack? How was it that she could be selfish enough to think that he might want to be in her affections? How could she be dwelling on these things when he was on the brink of death? It was ridiculous, but it distracted her from the urge to eat him. In her head, she began to see them walking together, holding hands and talking. Maybe he would find it amusing that he had been saved by a woman. Maybe he would be embarrassed about it and laugh shyly whenever someone else brought it up. Or maybe he would be eternally grateful for it, and as such would be devoted to her. Rosalie decided that she wouldn't like that last turn of events. She had been used to people being admiring of her to be captured by her beauty, and thus loyal or devoted. But she knew that meant little in the way of real affection. If Emmett was to survive this, she would want his feelings for her to be real. She would want him to want her not because she had saved his life, but because he just wanted to be with her.

She hit a main road and started running along it, searching for a sign that would tell her how far away she was from Ketchum, Idaho. She had never wanted to be somewhere more in her life. She would do anything just to make it time, to not be too late to save the man with the dimpled cheeks. She would do or give or make anything in order to see it happen. She saw a sign coming up. She sped up, anxious to read what it said. It said in bold black letters set against a faded blue background:

**Bellevue: 29 Miles**

**Hailey: 54 Miles**

**Ketchum: 87 Miles**

**A/N: ** so, sort of another cliffhanger, but this really doesn't count since there's another chapter right after this....review please!


	10. A Hop, Skip, and Jump

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **It's Rosalie's POV again, and will remain her POV for the next one, as well. I'll get Emmett in there later...so enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **This shouldn't be necessary at this point, but..._Twilight _isn't mine.

Rosalie shook her head, trying not think about the distance she still had to travel. She had covered over a hundred miles already. She could do that length of time again, couldn't she? It didn't matter if she thought that she couldn't, she would just have to. There was no other choice at this point. She had gotten over halfway and there was no way she was going to mess it all up now by killing him selfishly. She thought about nothing but that. She let it repeat over and over in her head: _I have to, there is no other choice. I have to, there is no other choice. _After repeating this sentence at least a hundred times, her old mantra came back into her head:

_His name is Emmett McCarty. He was born on March 7, 1915. His father served in the Great War, and received a medal for gallantry. He broke his left arm falling out of a tree when he was nine years old. He has a fourteen-year-old sister named Margaret Ann, and a twenty-two-year-old brother named Tyler. His mother makes the most delicious homemade lemonade. He likes his hotdogs burnt, and the taste of Cracker Jacks. He wants a business degree, and he's more disappointed than he can say that Babe Ruth retired this year. He thinks I'm a goddess. A goddess…_

This mantra comforted her as it had before, renewing her strength and giving her a sharper sense of determination. She could do this, she could make it happen. She would not let this fail. It was too important to her now. Unconsciously, she held Emmett closer to her chest. It seemed as if he had passed out. He was still breathing, she could feel his chest moving, could hear his rasping breaths, and his heart beating. She concentrated on this sound, absorbing and memorizing it. She knew that she would never hear it again if everything worked. She would never hear his heart beat again, and that made its last beats all the more precious. Emmett McCarty's heart made him even more real in her mind. The person she had been building in her head became fortified by the sound of his heartbeat.

She saw another sign.

**Bellevue: 10 Miles**

**Hailey: 34 Miles**

**Ketchum: 68 Miles**

She would be going through Bellevue in no time. It felt like a blink of an eye later, she was running around the town, avoiding main roads, but making sure she knew where the road she had been following was. When she passed the town, she was running along the road again. She pushed on, knowing that Hailey was close, and when she got passed Hailey, all she had ahead of her was Ketchum. It was not too much later when she saw the sign that said:

**Hailey: 14 Miles**

**Ketchum: 38 Miles**

Rosalie was nearly jumping for joy at this information. She was so close. She was almost there, and the sun was beginning to set. She suddenly realized that Carlisle would be gone by the time the sun was down. Rosalie panicked at this thought. He couldn't be gone when she got there; he just could not. He had to be there or this was all for naught. It would be a waste of time and Emmett would be dead and their future together would be lost and she would not have tasted his blood…and it would be such a catastrophic loss that she was sure that if it were to happen, she would beg Edward to kill her. She would get down on her knees and beg him to rip her apart and burn the pieces. She would force him to.

Then she was flitting around Hailey. She was going around it. When she was past it, she mentally did the math in her head. Ketchum was 24 miles away. That was practically a hop, skip, and jump away. But she saw that the sun was setting at a faster speed than it normally did. It could not possibly be that low in the sky already, could it? And was it possible for her to start to feel an ache in her legs and arms? Could a vampire become tired or exhausted? Had a vampire ever done what she was doing right now? Had a vampire ever run at top speed for over a hundred miles with a dying human in their arms who smelled like the most delicious piece of meat they had ever smelled in an attempt to save their life by turning them into a vampire? If that had ever happened, she wondered if that other vampire had felt the way she felt now. What she was doing was taking more than just physical exertion; it was taking mental exertion as well.

But the fact that she was resisting this urge made her sure that if she made it, that she would never be seriously tempted by a human again. She knew that if she smelled a particularly mouth-watering human, and was tempted to drink from them, all she would have to do was think back to this time, to when she had carried Emmett from Grand Teton, Wyoming to Ketchum, Idaho in her arms as he was bleeding all over her. This memory would be a safeguard, a guarantee even, against any and all temptations in the form of human blood. She would never kill a human for their blood. She would never kill a human for their blood.

That mantra, followed by her other ones, set to the rhythm of Emmett's heart, carried her into Ketchum. It was on their words that she flitted through the town just as the sun was setting. She could see the pinks and purples of the sky and she pushed forward, hurrying to her house. She reached the backyard, the words running through her head at the same speed as she was running. She continued running onto the porch. She turned her body to the side and smashed through the back door, into the kitchen.

Edward was at her side in seconds. He stood there, staring at her and the man in her arms. Rosalie could only imagine what he was thinking, what he was seeing, what he was assuming had happened. He opened his mouth.

"Rosalie, what have you done?"

**A/N: ** Short, I know, and the next one will be, too, but I needed to break this chunk up. I should really learn how to make this length my longest....but oh, well. Review if you could!


	11. Urgent Thoughts

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: ** So, here we are. There isn't much to say at this point except, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_ is not mine. But if you think I am good enough to be Stephenie Meyer, that means a lot to me (why don't you tell me in a review hmmm...? XD)

Rosalie hadn't even opened her mouth to reply to Edward's question when Carlisle appeared in the archway into the kitchen. His expression changed from curiosity to shock to concern then to determination.

"Rosalie, tell me what happened," Carlisle said. Rosalie shook her head. She couldn't open her mouth, she couldn't reply to him without breathing in Emmett's scent. Edward shot her a glance, telling her with his eyes to think it and he would do the talking.

_"I need Carlisle to change him. I need him to save him," _she thought quickly.

"Change him. She needs you change him."

_"He doesn't have much time. He's dying. It has to be now,"_ she continued.

"Now, Carlisle, it has to be now." Carlisle nodded, taking him from her hands. Edward cleared the island so that Emmett could be laid there. Esme appeared in the archway. She gasped, then covered her mouth.

"Esme, go, you don't need to stay here," Carlisle said quickly, taking in Emmett's wounds. He took a deep breath and bit his neck. Emmett's eyes opened wide and he let out a wordless scream. His body started to convulse violently. Edward and Carlisle restrained him. "Rosalie, you might want to leave," Edward said.

_"I am not going anywhere. I brought him here, I am staying here with him,"_ she thought. Edward shook his head, sighing. Then Edward stopped breathing. Carlisle, on the other hand, seemed to be breathing. Rosalie marveled at his utter self-control. The centuries it had taken him to perfect his tolerance…it was amazing. It looked as if he was pressing his ear to Emmett's chest. Rosalie, too, listened. She strained to hear that heartbeat she had familiarized herself with. She couldn't hear anything. Her heart sank down to her feet. She had been too late. She had not been fast enough. She had taken too much time. She had failed.

Slowly, she sank to her feet, wishing that she could cry. She needed to cry. It was something that she needed to do, but couldn't. It was impossible, and she was struck again by how much she missed being human. She had hoped without acknowledging it, that maybe by saving Emmett and living a life with him, together, she would find humanity. That with him she would find a human part of herself that she had lost. But now she had lost the man who had been born on March 7, 1915 and who had a father who had served in the Great War and who had siblings and who was favorable towards burnt hotdogs and who had broken his arm when he was nine, and who was disappointed in Babe Ruth's retirement. It all came crashing down on her: the loss of Emmett, the loss of her hope, the loss of that potential life. It came down on her and she wanted to cry so badly. She couldn't even dry sob. She would smell his blood and be too tempted to taste it, even though he was dead.

Then…then there was noise in the silent kitchen. It was faltering at first, but it gained it strength. It was so strong that Rosalie looked up in shock. Carlisle was grinning from ear to ear. Edward looked beyond relieved. Rosalie was confused, however.

"It's his heart. It's beating. The venom is being pumped through his veins," Edward explained. She would never, ever be sorry about his gift again. Without it, this would not have been possible.

"You were not too late, Rosalie," Carlisle said calmly. She got up and walked over to Emmett. As she watched, the gashes on his face seemed to heal and disappear. It was astounding to see how fast the venom was working. She smiled, beyond happy. It was…it was she had been hoping, wishing, praying, and working for. Then Emmett opened his mouth and let out a gut-wrenching scream. It reverberated through the house. Edward looked at Carlisle, who put his hand over Emmett's mouth. The next scream was only slightly muffled. "Edward, get a blanket. We can't let people hear him scream. We need to try to block out as much of the sound as we can. Go," Carlisle ordered, and Edward was out of the room in a flash. He was back just as fast, holding Rosalie's flowered comforter. Carlisle and Edward put it over Emmett's face. Rosalie was suddenly concerned that it would suffocate him.

"It won't," Edward said. The next scream was more muffled, but it was still quite distinct. "We should have sound-proofed the house or something," Edward said. Carlisle shook his head.

"It's too late now. All we can do is hope that no one hears him. He should pass out soon. He lost a lot of blood, and he had a lot of damage. His brain is going to shut down his body to block this new wave of pain, or at least it should," Carlisle said. The words were barely out of his mouth when Emmett shuddered and went limp. Edward glanced at Carlisle, who nodded. They removed the blanket. Emmett was unconscious, his eyes closed. His body was still shaking, but his face, at least, looked better. Rosalie couldn't say that it looked peaceful; his brow was pulled in pain and his mouth was a grimace. But he looked better than he had. He just looked incredibly worn out. "Let's go upstairs. He should be out for a couple hours, at the least," Carlisle said.

Together they walked up the stairs and walked into Carlisle and Esme's bedroom where Esme was sitting on the bed, looking concerned. Her hands were in a ball in her lap. She stood up quickly.

"What happened? Is he alive? Or…well, is he saved?" she asked.

"The venom's working. All we can do now is wait out the three days this will take," Carlisle answered. Esme nodded, sighing with relief.

"What happened, Rosalie?" Edward asked. She knew that all three of them thought that she had done this to him. That she had nearly killed him, then brought him to Carlisle to fix her mistake. She needed the windows to be open so that she wouldn't smell Emmett's blood. Edward did it in a flash. When she felt the breeze on her skin, she took a deep breath. She could smell the Esme's flowers and the trees. She could also smell Emmett's blood, but she resisted the urge.

"I found him being mauled by a Grizzly bear in Grand Teton. I was hunting, and his blood took me to him. I drank the Grizzly until it was dead, and then I considered my options with Emmett. I knew that I couldn't change him myself. I would not be able to stop. So I picked him up with the notion to bring him to Carlisle so that he could change him. I was so afraid that if his blood landed on my lips, I would taste it, and it would all be over or he would die on the way or that I would be too late getting here," Rosalie explained. They were silent.

"You ran here all the way from Grand Teton?" Edward asked finally. Rosalie nodded. "You ran with him bleeding in your arms?" Rosalie nodded again. "And you didn't bite him or taste his blood or harm him in any way?" Rosalie nodded a third time. Edward let out a breath through his nose and raised his eyebrows, impressed.

"Rosalie…" Carlisle said, embracing her. "You are the strongest vampire I have ever met." Rosalie hugged him back, wishing again that she could cry. Esme joined in the hug, and said her approval. It was Edward who stayed back. When they broke apart, Edward considered her for a second before saying,

"You know, Rosalie, you look like an ax-murderer." Rosalie shook her head.

"I know, but I'm not."

**A/N: ** So there it is, Rosalie's struggle to save Emmett's life. I hope it was struggly enough for you. Anyway, I'm back to Emmett's POV next time. Oh, and I hope you all get it at this point, but this story is going be a long one, or at least it is at this point...Review if you like, and review even if you don't!


	12. Fiery Remembrances

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, this is Emmett's POV. I briefly considered skipping over the transformation process, but then decided that it would just be better to write it. So, please read and review! Also, I think that this is the only chapter that I'm going to post today. Maybe I'll build your suspense. If I get a lot of complaints, then I'll post more than one chapter.

**Disclaimer:** _Twilight_, oh _Twilight_, you are not mine...

Emmett had never hated fire, or been afraid of it. In fact, he knew fire as a good thing. Fire, in his life up until now, had been a good thing. He used fire to make hotdogs, or become warm. Hell, he had just been sitting around a campfire talking with his brother and friends. Fire held a special place in his heart.

However, he was averse to fire in his veins. He had always thought of fire as an outside thing, something that could only be felt externally. He never knew that fire could course through veins, giving excruciating pain. He could almost imagine his body in a blackened, burnt heap as his organs and skin fed the raging, intense fire. But, yet, he knew that if he actually did look like this, then he would not be alive, and would not be able to feel it. He felt the fire. He _felt_ it. He had never felt anything so intense in his life. It was all-consuming. It was agony. He was sure that he was shouting, but he couldn't hear it. It was the fire in his body was eating the sound, too, before it could reach his ears.

How was it that a fire had been started in his body? How did you even get a fire there? He was alive, of that he was sure, but how could the fire be there without killing him? Maybe the Grizzly bear had rabies, and this was what rabies felt like. Was he foaming at the mouth? But, then, could Grizzly bears even get rabies? Speaking of Grizzlies, shouldn't he be in one's stomach? He was sure that he was dead back then, too. Was this fire the insides of the bear's stomach? That couldn't be right, because if he was in a bear's fiery stomach, surely he would be in pieces. Emmett could feel every part of body, because every part of his body was on fire. So, no, he couldn't be in a bear's stomach. Well, then, where was he? And where was the bear? And where had the fire come from?

He stopped shouting. It wasn't doing him any good. If he could hear his voice, he might have kept on going. He couldn't. Also, shouting was not the answer to stopping the fire. Maybe all he could do was wait until it ate him up. How long was that going to take? He was sure every moment that he couldn't take another moment of pain. It was horrible. It was unendurable, but here he was, enduring it while thinking about it. Did that mean that it was already almost done? He didn't remember thinking these things before…he just sort of remembered…well, what, exactly _did_ he remember? He had to think hard, the fire was nearly all-consuming. He forced his eyes shut tighter.

He remembered…the Grizzly. He definitely remembered the Grizzly. It had grunted and ran at him, and then began to tear him apart. He shut his eyes tighter. He didn't want to remember that. He didn't want to remember the feeling of the its claws and teeth biting into his skin, tearing away at it, making him scream and struggle and wish for it all to be over. Also, strangely, he remembered thinking that he was going to kill Tyler when it was done. That was ridiculous because he knew then that the only way it would be done was when he had been eaten, and he couldn't really do anything after that, let alone kill his brother. Also, he remembered feeling really bad that he wouldn't be able to make Andy's wedding to be his best man. Good thing he hadn't started to think about his speech, since he wouldn't be able to make it now…

Okay, so he remembered the Grizzly eating him. What else? He remembered the Grizzly not being there anymore. He remembered thinking that maybe he was dead, but then he had realized that he couldn't be dead if he was registering things like the Grizzly's absence. Then…he wasn't real sure about this…he remembered being picked up and it felt like he was being carried on the wind. He remembered feeling the air whip past him, through all that pain. He nearly laughed at how trivial that pain was, compared to the fire burning a course through his veins now. He'd opened his eyes and saw this blond beauty holding him, not breathing, and looking absorbed in concentrated thought. He thought that it had been Rosalie Cullen, since he'd never seen anyone that beautiful anywhere else. Then he realized that it was impossible. Rosalie Cullen would not be able to carry him and run with him. It was a silly thought, and he was sure that he said, "Silly, silly."

Well, then he remembered coughing a lot. He was sure that his lungs were destroyed, and his mouth had been clogged with blood. Maybe it was after that when he starting shaking. He could not be sure on that particular fact. He did remember, though, being held closer to the blond woman. It had been strange, being held like a baby by a woman. Especially since he was in no way the size of a baby…Then there was nothing until he heard a crash and some voices, speaking too fast for him to hear. Then…then there was the fire.

It seemed as if the fire's great, painful head reared at being remembered and he shouted again, though he had sworn that he wouldn't anymore. He moved his arm, trying to maybe put it out with his hand. It was strange, the sensation he was met with. Inside his hand was a fire tearing him apart, but on the outside…on the outside was coolness. It was like whatever part of his body he was touching (he suspected his stomach, but he couldn't be sure) was cold. Did that mean that he was dead? No. No. He would not be able to use his hand if he was dead. Also, he was sure that he would not be able to think, or feel the fire anymore. Why did he always go back to the "Am I dead?" thought?

"Hold him down!" he heard a male voice say. So, there were other people here. Who could they be? It was strange that there could be people around him right now, and not _see_ the fire. It had to be large and hot in order to generate this kind of pain. But, didn't he already decide the fire was inside his veins? Did it matter at this point? He wasn't sure. His thoughts were getting confused. So there were people, but these people were talking to each other, not helping him. Well, who were they then? Surely, if they were the four guys he had been with in Grand Teton, they would be doing _something_. Unless, the Grizzly ate them, too. No. Emmett had not been eaten by the Grizzly! Why couldn't he remember that?

"It's hard!" another voice said. It was strangely female. He shouldn't shout in pain if there was a woman in the room. He wouldn't want to scare her…but he was sure that he was a scary sight anyway, what with him being mauled pretty good by a Grizzly.

"Carlisle, he's strong."

"I know that. He was stronger than the average human in life, and now he's becoming a newborn…" So, there were three people there. Who was Carlisle? Had he heard that name before? He couldn't be sure. This was frustrating. Not only did he have a fire burning in his veins, he couldn't remember things! Did that meant that it had started in on his head? He moved his arm again, finding some resistance. He pushed against it some and felt it give way a little. Well, who was making it so that he couldn't check to see if his head was mass of burning cinder? He pushed against the force until he felt it disappear. He heard a female shout and a slight crash before he put his hand to his head. Nope. It was still there. He could feel his face, which was strangely sticky, but cool just like his stomach (or whatever it had been). Well, that was a comfort. It would be a shame living without his face…

What was he _thinking_? Living without his face? He wouldn't be able to live without his face! Actually, he was near positive that he wasn't going to live at all. That was depressing, and a little unfair, to tell the truth. Imagine going through all this, not to live at the end! This would be one hell of bad way to go. His last moments were agony…what would people say at his funeral?

_"He was vibrant and loving in life, which makes it all the more horrible to think that his last moments were spent in agony…"_

What would he wear in at his funeral? Would it be his prom tuxedo? He hoped that it would be, though it might not fit him anymore. He had added some bulk since then. But no way was he going to allow himself to wear that hideous brown suit that his father had bought for him on his last birthday. No way. But then, he wouldn't have a say in it, would he? Because he would be dead. Well, he hoped he lived, if for nothing but so that he could save himself from being seen wearing that thing. He was sure that everyone he ever knew who would attend would laugh at him in his casket. Or maybe, since he had been mauled by a bear, he wouldn't even be seen. Maybe he would have a closed casket wake. Well, he supposed he could live with that…

Something changed. The fire that was eating him up seemed to be going away…well, not really going away. It just seemed to be leaving certain parts of his body. But that wasn't much of a relief since the parts of his body that were still being burned seemed to hurt more to make up for the parts of his body that weren't hurting anymore. He started to move, trying to hurry the process along, maybe. He was met with resistance again, but he felt it all fall away when he kicked hard enough. Actually, it wasn't that hard to kick away at all. The fire was narrowing faster now. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, louder and stronger and faster than he had ever heard it. It was like the fire was narrowing down to his heart and it was just trying to get in its last, few, panicked beats before it stopped. When it reached his heart, it felt like he had a thousand, no, a million, hot coals centered on that spot, burning him and torturing him.

He screamed. He couldn't help it. It was the only thing he could think of to do. He heard his scream. He heard it distinctly in his ears. In fact, it sort of hurt to hear. He was breathing heavily, he could feel his scorching heart rise and fall rapidly, hear his breaths. Emmett was terrified of this ending. He at least knew that as long as he could feel the pain, he was alive. But if it stopped…there was no way that he could be sure he was alive. His heart beat faster until…until it stuttered to a stop.

Still breathing heavily despite this, Emmett opened his eyes.

**A/N: **I don't know if he was in enough pain. I tried. And I _know_ that this is a cliff-hanger, but yeah, I have to keep you all on your toes! Review, if you could.


	13. First Sight Through New Eyes

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **This one is short. I might post this one with another chapter because of that. Anyway, this is in Emmett's POV still. I'm doing three of his after I did three of Rosalie's. So, this is the second of three. I post this today because of ShinySewage. I was asked by her in a PM, and I thought that it would only be fair. So, yeah, I guess you can say that this one is for ShinySewage, because it wouldn't be up right now without the urging.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight _isn't mine. God.

The first thing he saw was Rosalie Cullen. He saw her like he had never seen her before. He remembered, vaguely though, that she had been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He tried to call to memory the way she had looked to him that night in the dance hall, but he was having trouble seeing it clearly. It was like the memory of that image was hidden behind a thick curtain, and he could only just make out her general figure and blond hair. But the woman standing before him was…was better. She was infinitely better than the image he had. Her lines were crisper, her eyes brighter (still liquid honey), and she was just more intensely beautiful.

She was, however, very bloody. Had she been mauled, too? Her blond hair (and what a blond it was) had bright, garish red stains on the bottom half of it. Her perfect face was flecked with lurid spots of red. He let his eyes look at her clothes. They were red, too, but also dirty, as if she had been dusted in loose dirt. He was sure that when he had met her before, she had been immaculately dressed. Rosalie hadn't seemed like the kind of woman to let herself look the way she did now.

"Carlisle, what's happening? Why is he just staring?" Emmett heard a voice say, clearly and distinctly. He was sure he had never heard a voice so clear. Also, he was sure that he had heard it before…but once again that thick curtain covered his memories. Suddenly, his nose itched. He went to move his hand so that he could scratch it when he was greeted by that same resistance, only this time more concentrated. Rosalie's face looked concerned. Her eyebrows (so perfectly arched) furrowed. Emmett tugged at the resistance. It pushed down. This was getting annoying. He yanked and he felt it give way, just to be replaced, with more force. Finally, he sighed in a frustrated way.

"My nose itches!" he said loudly, to Rosalie, though he knew that she wasn't the thing preventing him from scratching his nose. Slowly, hesitantly, he felt the resistance leave. Emmett reached his hand, the one that was on the other side of his body as Rosalie, to his face and scratched the side of his nose. He felt something dry, and slightly sticky. He brought his hand away from his face and turned his head away from Rosalie, breaking their eye contact, to look at his fingers. They were covered in the same bright red as Rosalie. He put his hand back on his face. His entire face was covered with the same slightly sticky substance. Emmett sat up quickly. There was only a slight resistance. He didn't even have to think about breaking it, he just did. He was on the ground in no time. It felt like it took him less than a second.

Four people crowded around him. Besides Rosalie, who was the closest, there was Dr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen, and Edward. He saw them, too, differently. Edward was more handsome than he remembered. Mrs. Cullen, too, was prettier. Her soft face looked softer, though more distinct. It was a strange thing. Dr. Cullen, too, was more handsome, though Emmett had had only a brief look at him. Emmett quickly backed up from them, hitting something hard, but feeling it crumble beneath him and he forced himself against it. He turned and saw the edge of the countertop was crumbled. He looked up at the people surrounding him. He eyes went to Rosalie's. She walked closer to him, then placed her hand on his arm. He looked down and saw that his arm was covered in dried blood, too.

"Emmett," he heard a voice say. He looked up at Dr. Cullen. "Emmett, don't be scared."

"Are you kidding me?" Emmett asked. "Scared? I'm not scared! I'm confused, that's what I am. I remember being attacked by that damn Grizzly! Where's that?" he asked. Then he realized that he had sworn. "Sorry, I didn't mean to swear," he apologized quickly. Edward snorted.

"The Grizzly's dead," Rosalie said. Emmett blinked at the sound of her voice. It was like…bells tinkling against each other. It was a heavenly sound. He nearly smiled at it.

"How is that?" Emmett asked her.

"I killed it," she answered.

"How?" he asked.

"Emmett, that is what I am trying to explain," Dr. Cullen said calmly. Emmett waited. "When Rosalie found you, she took you here to me. Your injuries were too extensive for me to save your human life. Our only option was to turn you."

"Turn me into what, exactly?" Emmett asked. This didn't make any sense. As far as he could see (and he could see pretty darn well), he didn't have any injuries at all, just vast amounts of dried blood.

"You may have noticed that I and my family are different. You may have noticed our cold, pale skin, our yellow eyes, or our strange beauty and thought that we were different from anyone else you have seen before. We look and feel this way because we are different from a human. In fact, we are not human anymore. Now, neither are you." This wasn't making any sense.

"There are other things that we can do that we haven't let you see," Edward said. "We are incredibly strong, and fast, and agile." Emmett closed his eyes, thinking. So, beauty, strength, speed, agility, cold skin, yellow eyes…no, no, this wasn't real. They didn't actually _exist_. "They do, and we are," Edward said. Emmett opened his eyes and looked at him.

"You're telling me that you all are vampires and that you've turned me into one, too?" he asked. Dr. Cullen nodded slowly. Emmett shook his head.

He was a _vampire_?

**A/N: **Okay, without a doubt is there going to be another one after this. This is...embarrassingly short. I don't know...I already posted another chapter today...should I really post another one (especially after I already said that I wanted to post just one today)? ....


	14. Explanations, Plans, and Departures

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, here is the a chapter for today, and it's the last of the three in a row Emmett POV. Also, I just want to say that I am usually sleeping when I get reviews and messages asking me to post or whatever. Since I am currently in Germany, I am on a different standard time that the U.S. So mostly when I post it's around 8/9 in the morning EST.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_...um...isn't mine...yeah...crap.

"Explain it to me. From the beginning," he said. So Dr. Cullen started talking. He told Emmett about how he was turned in the 1620s, and how he wasn't like the normal vampire myths. He didn't drink human blood, he survived on animal blood, as did his whole family, hence their honey eyes. He told Emmett how he trained himself to resist the smell of human blood so that he could be a doctor, and use his extra senses (smell, hearing, even touch) to help save human lives. He told Emmett how he found Edward in 1918 Chicago, dying of the Spanish Influenza, of how he found his wife, Esme some years later, alive in the morgue after jumping off a cliff, and finally how he found Rosalie, dying on a street. Emmett learned that Dr. Cullen found and turned his family into vampires. At that point, Rosalie started talking. She told him how when she met him, he had smelled different to her, irresistible, and she had run away, trying to strengthen herself so that she wouldn't kill him. She told him how she had found him being attacked by the Grizzly while hunting, and how she killed the bear before running with him from Grand Teton all the way back to Ketchum.

"I couldn't trust myself," she admitted. "I couldn't trust myself not to kill you if I turned you myself."

"So you took me here," Emmett said. She nodded.

"Carlisle bit you. We thought that it might have been too late. But the venom worked, and now it's three days later, and you're a vampire." Carlisle, Emmett had learned, was Dr. Cullen's first name.

"You left me on a kitchen island for three days?" Emmett asked. Edward laughed at this, shaking his head. Emmett swallowed. He had a hollow, aching feeling the back of his throat. He swallowed again. It didn't leave.

"It doesn't leave," Edward told him.

"What?" Emmett asked. Dr. Cullen looked at Edward.

"Oh, yeah, sorry, Emmett. You don't know this, but I can read minds," Edward explained. This, for some reason, was harder to believe that he was now a vampire. "Not every vampire can. I'm special," Edward went on. Rosalie snorted. "You will be, too, in your own way."

"What does that mean?" Emmett asked.

"We survive on animal blood, Emmett," Dr. Cullen said. "But human blood makes us stronger. As of right now, you are stronger than the average vampire, because of the large amounts of human blood in your system."

"You're telling me that I still have blood in my body?" Emmett asked. Surely if all of it wasn't on his skin, then the fire had eaten the rest. Edward grinned.

"Yes, and it will give you extra strength for a year. But even so, you are stronger than an average newborn, and when you are no longer a newborn, you will be stronger than the average vampire," Dr. Cullen went on.

"Why is that?"

"You were stronger than the average human by some margin, Emmett," he answered. Emmett nodded. This was a lot to think about, but strangely, it made sense. In fact, this was good news.

"So does this mean I can go home?" he asked. He knew that his family would think that he was dead at this point. Imagine what they would think when he walked through the door, unharmed and healthy!

"No," Dr. Cullen said. Emmett raised an eyebrow. "You aren't even a day old. It takes a great amount of self-control to resist humans. It is not easy for us. It is, however, easier for us to deny ourselves human blood, since we do not drink it on a regular basis. Because we drink animals' blood, we have a greater resistance to human blood. It's something of a phenomenon. You, however, have human blood in your system. You will not be able to resist at all."

"We can't stay here with him, Carlisle," Mrs. Cullen said. "It's too dangerous. If something were to happen, we wouldn't be able to restrain him. He's too strong." Dr. Cullen nodded, looking serious.

"We have to leave immediately. It will be suspicious, but at least we will not be in any way connected to your disappearance, Emmett. Your hiking party will assume, and I guess they have already, that you were killed by a bear. I'm sure they've already returned and spread the word. We haven't left the house in three days, so we wouldn't be able to tell for sure."

"I'm so sorry, Carlisle," Rosalie said. She looked it, too. It was heartbreaking, seeing her look like that. Emmett frowned. He didn't want to see her sad. Then something occurred to him.

"Why do you have to leave?"

"What do you mean, Emmett? We can't stay here. It's too dangerous. Everyone in Ketchum is at risk, dear," Mrs. Cullen said. Emmett shook his head.

"I understand that. I just don't understand why all of you have to leave. I mean, I don't have to stay here. I could…go into the wilderness or something for a year, building up my resistance or whatever. When I'm strong enough to resist, I can come back, or I can live on my own somewhere else." Edward's face was concentrated in thought.

"It makes sense to do that, Carlisle," he said.

"Edward, we can't let him go into the wilderness on his own. For one, there isn't a house out there where he could stay, and for two, it's just too dangerous to let him do this on his own. One of us can't go with him. It would be too suspicious if one of us disappeared for a year to be with him," Dr. Cullen said.

"No, that's not true," Rosalie said suddenly. Edward looked at her, surprised.

"What do you mean, honey?" Mrs. Cullen asked her.

"I'm old enough to go to college, aren't I? We just told people that I was staying home with Edward so that we could go together. What if I 'went to college'?" Rosalie said.

"It's October, Rosalie, it's too late," Dr. Cullen said. Rosalie shook her head stubbornly.

"We can make it work. We can say that I wrote to the college and told them that I wasn't physically able to go, but I now am. We can tell people that I'm leaving now, and will just stay through holidays and later at the end of the school year to make it up. It's believable Carlisle. People won't wonder where I am, because they'll know, or at least think they do. You can all stay here, and I can watch over Emmett."

"You wouldn't have a place to stay out there," Mrs. Cullen said.

"So? We can find one! We can _make_ one if it comes to that. You all can even visit us on occasion, to make sure that everything's okay. Carlisle, you can even go as far as having a wilderness cabin built in for our 'camping weekends,'" Rosalie pressed on. Dr. Cullen nodded.

"You're right Rosalie. That is what we'll do. Go now, go with him now. This Friday, Edward will come and replace you as we make the show of taking you college."

"She can't go to Idaho State," Emmett said quickly. They all looked at him. "My brother goes there; I went there. If he doesn't see her there, it'll get suspicious."

"Well, it isn't like the two of them would run into each other in the great scheme of things," Edward said. Emmett shook his head.

"You forget, Edward. Tyler never met her. Everyone knows what Rosalie looks like. Tyler has been wanting to see Rosalie since the night he didn't. If he learns that Rosalie is at the same college as he is…he won't leave her alone. She has to be going somewhere else."

"We'll figure it out. Right now, the most important thing is to get you going, before the sun rises. I believe that someone will be coming around soon to tell us about your death," Dr. Cullen said.

"Let's go," Rosalie said, tugging at his arm.

"I need clothes," Emmett said. The ones he had been wearing when he was attacked were still on, but weren't really clothes anymore. They were more…rags than anything. Mrs. Cullen handed him and outfit and a pair of hiking boots. He also saw her hand Rosalie a pile of clothes as well.

"We measured you when you were changing. We just didn't think it would be prudent for us to change you ourselves," she explained.

"Change when you're 50 miles away. No less. I don't want you two to stop until you are in the deep wilderness. Understand?" Rosalie and Emmett nodded to Dr. Cullen. Then they walked through to the back patio. They starting running, and then they were gone.

**A/N: **So, now Rosalie and Emmett get to be alone...for a year, basically. Time for bonding, don't you think? Also, Emmett is sooo nice, don't you think? He just got turned into a vampire after getting mauled, and here he is, trying not to inconvenience the family. What a sweetheart. Also, Rosalie...wants Emmett all to herself...Review, please!


	15. When Imagination Meets with Reality

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Back to Rosalie's POV. I felt that I needed to get back her snottiness a little. She was going kind of soft, I thought, in my other ones. She needed her edge back, and that's what this is partly for.

**Disclaimer: **This should go without saying, but _Twilight_ isn't mine.

It was impossible for Rosalie to know when they had gone fifty miles. The only way she could really measure anything was by time. It had taken her what, almost two hours to run basically two hundred miles? So if she just cut that into fourths, they should run for a half an hour. She didn't want to risk going less than fifty miles because of her rounding, so she decided that an hour would be more than sufficient.

Emmett kept on passing her up, and it was frustrating. Didn't he know that he was supposed to stay with her? Was this how it was going to be? Was he going to be a fast person, leaving her behind? Rosalie halted in her tracks suddenly. What was she thinking? She was acting as if Emmett wasn't the most important thing to her at this moment. She had just lived the two hardest hours of her life fighting for his and she was getting bitter over the fact that he was running too fast? What was the matter with her? He was at her side in seconds.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Rosalie glanced at him, then looked away. It was painful and a little disgusting to see all that blood on him. She couldn't even see his skin in some places. She was sure that he didn't look any better than he had when he was alive. When they reached that hour mark, she would find a stream or something and make him bathe in it before changing out of those stained clothes.

"I'm fine, we shouldn't be standing here. Carlisle didn't want us to stop until we had gone fifty miles," Rosalie told him, starting to run again.

"I wasn't the one who stopped, Rosalie," he said to her, not running ahead of her again so that he could talk to her.

"That's not the point!" she said angrily. He didn't look affected by her outburst, or strange, nearly erratic, behavior. Maybe it was because she had just experienced the most difficult hours of her life. Maybe it was because so many different emotions had come crashing down on her recently. She was emotionally exhausted. She had let her emotions run freely through her for the past three days. She had let herself feel pain and remorse and relief and worry and hope and even love. But now she was feeling annoyance and frustration. She just wanted to _sleep_, but she couldn't. She pushed on, trying to rearrange her head.

"So, how long do you think we've been running at this point?" Emmett asked her some twenty minutes later. Rosalie glanced at her watch.

"Nearly an hour," she said. Emmett nodded.

"When are we going to stop?"

"As soon as we find a stream to get you washed in," she told him. He chuckled. She turned her head, glaring at him. "What do you find so amusing, Emmett McCarty? I know that you noticed that you look like you were mauled by a Grizzly. I know that you felt all that blood on your face and that you saw that blood on your body!"

"Of course I noticed! It's just…you don't look that much better," he said. Rosalie looked down at herself for the first time in three days. She hadn't changed. She hadn't bathed. Her hair was still tinged red; she still had Emmett's and the Grizzly's blood all over her. She was sure that she also had it on her face. Hadn't she sworn that she would never let herself look like this ever again? Suddenly, she was furious.

"It's all because of you!" she shouted at him, stopping again. They were a safe distance away now. There was no need for them to worry about if they were fifty miles away. They were farther, and they were in deep wilderness. So she could stop, and have this out with him.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard what I said! I look like this because of _you_!" She jabbed a finger forcefully into his chest. It went through one of the many gashes in his shirt and hit his marble-like skin. It actually hurt her finger, but she didn't flinch, she just kept on looking at him angrily. "You know, I went into the wilderness for a _month_ because of you! If you hadn't smelled so goddamn appetizing, none of this would have happened." She knew that she was beyond furious because she was swearing. She never swore to other people. She usually only did it in her head and that was a rare event.

"Are you saying that I should have somehow made myself smell different?" he asked her calmly. He was patronizing her? She didn't want to be patronized! She wanted to be argued with. She wanted to have her anger met with indignation, not patronization!

"You made me look worse than I ever have in my entire life!" she said, ignoring his comment. "Then you have to go and get yourself _mauled_ by a Grizzly bear! You were the one who bled all over me, okay? You did this to me! You were the one who had me standing in a kitchen watching you writhe and hearing you shout in pain for three damn days! You were the one who made me forget to change or bathe! This is entirely your fault! So don't you dare go making jibes at my appearance when you look like hell yourself!"

"Rosalie," he said patiently. She glared at him before taking off. She wasn't going to have him act this way to her after she save his life! This was not what she had been imaging. She had thought that he would be thankful, even embarrassed. She was sure that he would tell her how much he appreciated her Herculean effort for his sake. And what of that life she had been wanting so badly? What had happened to the damn hand-holding?

She heard running water and pushed harder. Emmett would be able to catch up with her in no time. He would probably overtake her any second now. She got to the fast flowing stream before he did, though. However, it took him mere seconds to get to her.

"So…we both need to wash up, right? You want to go that way, round the bend and I'll stay here?" he suggested. He had the gall to just act like nothing had just happened? Who was this man? He was nothing like the person she had created in her mind! The man in her mind was in love with her! The man in her mind would thank her and tell her that she was a goddess and that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen! The man her mind would take her in his arms and whisper in her ear before kissing her! The man in her mind wasn't patronizing and didn't treat her like a misbehaving child! This man in front of her was quickly becoming a disappointment.

"Fine," she bit out and ran around the bend, eager to be away from him. She was going to have to spend a year with him, and she could hardly stand him. She was going to have one heck of time controlling an urge to rip him apart. Then again, if she did give in to that growing urge, it would be no problem for him to fight her off. Rosalie hurriedly took off her clothes. She brought them with her into the stream, which came up past her waist. She began tearing the blood-stained clothes into tiny pieces. When she was done, she tossed them as far as she could, which was admittedly not far because they were pieces of fabric, down the stream. They were whisked away quickly with the current. She then got to washing herself.

Rosalie knew that the water was cold, but it didn't make her cold. She was immune to any sort of temperature. When she was in the bath, her skin was heated by the water, but only when it was extremely hot, near searing temperature. But her skin didn't stay warmed for very long. Minutes after she would get out of the tub, her skin would go back to its icy coolness. She was reminded every time she took a bath that she wasn't human, and she never would be.

The blood on her body came off easily enough. It was the blood in her hair that was being stubborn. The actual cakes of blood washed off almost immediately, but her hair was tinted pink. She didn't have any soap to wash it with, so she could only rub it with her hands underneath the water. It seemed like ages for the pink to finally lighten, and then to disappear completely. When she was done, she got out of the stream and looked around for something to dry herself with. She considered using a piece of her clothes, but then thought that would just be stupid. Why use her dress to dry herself off just to put it on? She bit her lip, thinking. The only thing she could think of to do was run around.

So she did. She ran up and down the side of the stream at top speed. When her body was satisfactorily dry, and her hair was merely damp (but windswept and knotty), she went to her pile of clothes and hurriedly put them on. She was naked, after all, and it made her uncomfortable, thinking that maybe Emmett would come looking for her and find her running about without any clothes on.

She looked at the watch she had left with her clothes and had replaced on her wrist. She had been here for over half an hour. Surely Emmett would be done. He was a man after all. He probably just got in, washed the blood off and hopped out. She was completely positive that he would just be sitting on a stump or something, waiting for her to come get him. He seemed like the type to just wait. He was probably waiting _patiently_ for her. She sneered at this thought and rounded the bend at a clip. What she saw was nowhere near what she had been expecting.

Emmett was standing the center of the stream, laughing his head off. His skin was without dried blood and his hair was wet and clinging to his clean face. She stopped, taking in a sharp breath. Being a vampire suited him. He had been a handsome man in life, but in this afterlife, he was beyond handsome. And he had those dimples…deepened now with his laughter. Rosalie was sure that if she still had a heartbeat that it would have stopped at the sight of him laughing as the water ran passed him.

She let her eyes sink below his face, across his wide shoulders, down to his well-muscled chest and distinct abdominals. He had been a big man when he was alive. She knew that he was muscled. But she had never imagined that his muscles could be this attractive. She never knew that just looking at them would make her feel this way. All of her previous anger at him and the notion to rip him apart left her head, now silly, mindless thoughts. Imagine her ripping _that_ apart. She bit her bottom lip. These thoughts were foreign to her. What she really wanted to do was go over to him and run her hands along those defined planes of pale, hard skin.

Then he looked at her. He stopped laughing almost instantly. Rosalie was sure that if she could still blush, she would be doing so at that moment. So she compensated by letting her eyes widen and taking a startled step back, stuttering her explanation.

"I…I thought that you would be…finished. I didn't mean—what I mean to say is that—well, I'll just wait…over there, behind those trees. I'll just—go." Then she turned her back on him and ran behind random trees, trying to put as much distance as she could between her and that humiliating situation. She had been a _Peeping Tom_. Rosalie Hale a Peeping Tom! What had happened to her? She had actually been imagining herself touching his bare skin! She had been just looking at him, as he was naked! God, the utter humiliation!

She sat down on a pile of leaves and buried her face in her hands, trying to block out the whole situation. There was something wrong with her. Surely it wasn't normal, wasn't right, to be thinking these horribly inappropriate thoughts. She hadn't been raised this way. She had been raised to think that these sorts of thoughts were wrong and dirty. If her mother and father could only see her now…There was snap of a twig. She looked up and saw Emmett standing before her, clothed, some twenty feet away.

His wet hair was still clinging to his skull, though it had begun to curl slightly back into its normal shape. It appeared as if he hadn't bothered drying himself off, so the clothes Esme had given to him clung to his wet body. She could see the outline of his muscles quite distinctly. She also noticed the way his biceps seemed to strain against the sleeves of the t-shirt…

"I—," she began, but he cut her off.

"Forget about it. What are we going to do now?" Rosalie was taken aback by this casual dismissal of her peeping tomery. Surely he should be scolding her for it, telling her how inappropriately she had been staring at him while he was washing? She opened her mouth to maybe ask why he wasn't making a bigger deal out of this, when she realized that she didn't want to hear the things that she knew that she deserved to hear.

"We should hunt. There should be big game around here."

"I wish you hadn't killed that Grizzly," he said thoughtfully.

"Why? It would have killed you; in fact, it did."

"I know that…I just wish it was still alive so that I could kill it now. You know, exact revenge. It hurt, being mauled." Rosalie thought that she could understand that. She had exacted her own revenge, hadn't she? And this time it was just a Grizzly, not several men. She also understood his pain. Her last human moments had been spent in pain as well.

"I'm sorry. I needed the blood in order to resist yours," she said. He sighed then shrugged.

"Think we could find another Grizzly? Maybe I could just take it out on the species, you know?" Rosalie smiled. Edward had been right. He certainly thought and said amusing things. The first thing he had said to them when he had opened his eyes after the transformation was "My nose itches!" Also, he had been concerned that they had left him lying on a kitchen countertop for three days.

"Idaho is home to Grizzly bears," she said. Emmett grinned.

"I'm hungry. Let's go," he said. Rosalie thought that he was adjusting to this whole new life style pretty well. It was almost a little too well. Was there something wrong with her that made her find it more difficult to live with? "Oh yeah, do we have fangs?" Rosalie stood up and walked over to him, shaking her head. He looked disappointed. "Man, I was really looking forwards to the fangs."

Rosalie laughed as they began running, Emmett pushing ahead of her with ease, and this time around, it didn't bother her.

**A/N: **Okay, so I can't have their relationship just fall into place. That would be too easy, and a little boring. Also, yeah, I always thought that Emmett was sort of hot. Usually I'm not into really muscley guys, but Emmett was never like that to me. He was...I don't know: big, strong, but not body-builder. Wide-shouldered, six-packed, all that. Rosalie, yes, she likes that too. I'll get more into her body-type preferences later on. So, review! p.s. I found using the word "tomery" very amusing. Kind of like "tomfoolery" you know? Also, Emmett, he's a fun one, isn't he?


	16. Emmett Versus The Grizzly

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So this is Emmett's POV. It's his first hunt...I hope it's exciting enough. I thought it was fun to write, but who knows what you all with think about it.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_...well, see the thing is...yeah, what I'm trying to say...it's not mine.

"So, the trick to hunting is to just let your senses take over. That's how I found you…I could smell your blood from a couple miles away. But you can't just use your nose, it's more…hearing helps a lot, and when you get the smell of it and you can hear it, you'll be able see it too probably. The smell is what comes first, though; hearing and sight don't necessarily always come in that order. You think you can do that?" Rosalie was saying to him. After they had decided it was time for his first hunt, they had run into an area where she had found Grizzlies before. Then they had stopped in a clearing, not too far from another stream. He nodded. It sounded easy enough.

"Got it," he said. This would be interesting, though he suspected not as interesting as discovering Rosalie staring at him while he washed in the other stream. That had been quite the surprise, and he had no idea how long she had been standing there, or if she was enjoying what she saw. He guessed that she was shocked by her own actions, if the way she had stuttered her apology and ran off at top speed indicated anything. He had thought it was just best to let her forget about it. She had been humiliated by the experience, even if he hadn't, and so he didn't want to linger on it more than was necessary.

"Okay, I'm going to wait until you've found something before I hunt myself. I'm going to keep my head about me, in case something goes wrong. I haven't seen any humans around here, and there aren't any trails for them to go on, but who knows? I want to be able to catch a whiff of them first, before you do anything…detrimental."

He nodded. "No humans, got it." She pursed her lips at him. She was probably confused about his flippancy. The truth was, he didn't want to kill anyone, and he appreciated the fact that the Cullens didn't eat people, and that Rosalie had done everything she could so that she wouldn't kill him. But, he was hungry, or thirsty. The dry ache in the back of his throat was getting more intense, and his muscles were all tense and coiled. He was excited.

She reached up (though not that far, she was tall) and took his chin her hands, turning his face down to look her in the eyes. "No humans. This is serious. I won't be able to stop you once you get going. Understand? I'm not going to try to set up some thing like 'If you feel me stop you, you have to stop.' You won't care at that point. When we hunt, we become less of a person, and more of a…an animal ourselves. You're stronger than I am. You'd probably end up hurting me if I got in the way. I would really like to tell Edward when he comes and finds us that nothing happened. Is that clear?" He nodded. Emmett didn't want to hurt her, and he didn't want to hurt anyone else, either. But, strangely, the real reason why he would be careful not to hurt a person was because he would end up hurting Rosalie in the process.

"Crystal," he said seriously. She seemed satisfied.

"Alright, at 'em boy," she said, letting go of his chin and tilting her head towards the stream. It was like he was her new puppy and she was letting him have his fun while she watched, holding his leash should things get out of hand. He nodded, feeling like that puppy even more and sprinted off, losing sight of her ten seconds later. He stopped, closing his eyes.

So…hearing and smell. Alright, let's do this. He could hear the stream some two hundred feet to the right of him. What else was there? There were some birds above him, but he didn't want them. No, he wanted something much bigger. Then he heard the faint sound of feet…he sniffed the air experimentally. It was a sweet smell. Rosalie. She was behind him, watching. He smiled. So she wanted another show, did she? He heard some hooves. Elk, maybe, to the right, probably going for a drink. They smelled good, too. Still, they weren't what he was looking for.

Then there was a familiar sound. Grunting. He couldn't help but smile with his teeth. Oh yes, there it was. The Grizzly. His muscles seem to coil tighter in anticipation. He wanted to smell it first. He took in a deep breath through his nose. It smelled different from the elk. It was fattier, almost. He opened his eyes and took off. He was focused now. As he got closer to where he knew the Grizzly was, the smell got stronger. He swallowed. This would taste good, he could tell. He broke through a copse of trees and there it was. It was bigger and older than the one he had been mauled by. He could smell its desperation. Its beady black eyes were scanning the area. It was hungry, too.

When it spotted Emmett, it grunted loudly, and opened its mouth, showing its teeth. He chuckled at it. It reared up on its back two legs and made a show. Emmett just shook his head. He leaned forward on his right foot, looking similar to a runner might as they were about to start running. The bear dropped back on its front two legs, let out a loud growl, then charged him. Emmett jumped up once it was two feet in front of him, its mouth open to bite and landed on its back. The bear reared up again, trying to shake him off, but Emmett had his hands in its matted fur. It would be easy to bite it right now, in the back of the neck, or on the shoulder, but where would the fun be in that? So he jumped off.

It took the Grizzly a few seconds to realize what had happened and turn on him, still on its hind legs. Its front paws came down on Emmett's shoulders, claws scraping and ripping his shirt. Maybe he should have waited to change…however, the claws were ineffectual against his new vampire skin. Emmett put his hands over the bear's paws and pulled up. They came off easily. The bear roared and went to bite his head. Well, that wasn't going to happen. He quite like his face and didn't want it in some Grizzly's mouth. He quickly released the bear's paws and clamped him hands on the bear's muzzle, effectively closing its jaws. It tugged away from him, using its giant paws to attempt to push him away, ripping more of his new shirt.

Emmett changed his hands' position. He moved his right arm to wrap around the bear's giant, furry neck, and he kept his left around its jaw. The bear put its paws around him, as if in a hug, ripping the back of his shirt. Emmett twisted his shoulders, flipping the bear onto its side. It struggled to plant its feet back on the ground, grunting low in its throat. Emmett moved his mouth to right next to his arm. He could smell the fear on the bear and hear its panicked heartbeat. It knew that it had met a higher predator, but that didn't mean that it was going to go down without a fight. Emmett grinned at this and sunk his teeth into the neck where he could feel the blood pumping.

The blood was delicious. It was…indescribable. It was hot and wet and God, was it tasty. He'd never had anything like it. He could feel the blood pump harder into his mouth as the bear's heart sped up. It was writhing in his arms now, trying hopelessly to break free. Eventually it fell limp, unable to move, but still grunting slightly. When Emmett heard its heart slow and stop, he unlatched his mouth from its neck and let it fall to the forest floor. He stepped back, licking his lips. Then he reached up a hand to his face, just to see if there was anything on it. There was some blood around his mouth, as if he had just messily eaten a popsicle and the juice was on him. He looked down at his shirt. It was ruined, so there was no point in wearing it. It took it off and used it to wipe off his face.

Then he turned around and saw Rosalie standing next to a tree, half-concealed by the thick trunk. She had that same surprised look on her face, her honey eyes a little darker, but still round and wide open. He grinned at her. She blinked several times before saying,

"Was it your intention to have a wrestling match?" He laughed.

"Actually, yes, it was." She shook her head.

"Unbelievable, like a child," she muttered.

"Grown men wrestle. In fact, there are even grown men who wrestle bears," he told her. "Men that are human, I mean."

"Well, even if there are, they don't wrestle thousand-pound Grizzlies desperate to find food before hibernation. It probably thought it could eat you before it realized that it was going to be eaten itself," she said. Emmett considered this.

"Is that why the Grizzly who attacked me did it?" he asked. Rosalie nodded.

"When you were changing, I asked Edward. I never knew Grizzlies to just randomly attack humans. They either attack because their cubs or food stash have been threatened. It didn't look like you had done any of those things. Edward said that when food is scarce or when they're late going into hibernation, they become desperate. That's when they attack humans without cause," she told him. Emmett nodded. He guessed that made sense.

"Quite the fact buff, that Edward," Emmett said. Rosalie smiled.

"I guess you could say that," she said. Her face had a soft look on it as she said this, and something occurred to him.

It hadn't clicked before because he'd been so distracted by the information that he was a vampire, then the running, and then the Grizzly, but now it occurred to him. Rosalie and Edward weren't brother and sister. They were in no way related to one another, which meant that they could be involved romantically. When he had been a human, and thought that they were siblings, Edward hadn't posed a threat or been a hitch in his plan to ask out Rosalie, but now that he knew better…This changed things. This meant that Rosalie wasn't free to be his girl. She was someone else's. Of course she was Edward's girl. He had lived with her for two years, hadn't he? What sort of person wouldn't snatch Rosalie up? Suddenly, the whole situation was different.

Originally, he had thought that Rosalie had volunteered to go with him into the wilderness because she didn't want to uproot her family, and that was why he had suggested the idea. But then he got to thinking that maybe spending time with Rosalie alone would be just the thing to get her to agree to be his girl. He had been excited by this idea. Everything had seemed within his grasp. He had an eternity to be with her, didn't he? But now…now he could see that she wasn't his to be had. She was Edward's, and that made sense. It was so clear to him now that he was surprised that he hadn't seen it before. He had been too wrapped up in his own feelings for her that he had been blind to the feelings that she might have for someone else.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned. He blinked and looked at her, shaking his head.

"I was just thinking that maybe I should have changed after I went hunting. Don't have a shirt now," he told her. That was why she had been so ashamed when she had come across him washing in the stream. It wasn't like she wanted to see anyone but Edward that way. Man, had he been ignorant. This would change now. He would be different. He wouldn't be so free with her. He had thought that allowing her to get to know him would make her want to be with him, but she didn't want to be with him, because she was with someone else. He wondered if they were married. It didn't matter; married or not, Rosalie was unavailable. So, Emmett would just have to restrict his behavior to the brotherly kind.

"That would have been a good idea. Imagine what Edward will think when he comes and finds you without a shirt," she said. That, that was it. What she really meant was, "Imagine what Edward will think when he comes and sees a shirtless man with his girl." Of course Edward wouldn't want a half-naked man spending time with his girl, drooling all over her. He was probably unhappy with the whole idea, anyway, but had acknowledged its merit earlier because it was the only possibility.

"Yeah, just imagine," he said quietly. Then he looked up, smiling. "Let's find somewhere to settle down for the night, then. Find a comfortable place for us to sleep," he said. He hoped it sounded brotherly. This was going to be difficult, but he would do it, because it was right. Edward was his brother now, wasn't he? You just don't go after your brother's girl. It just wasn't what you did.

"We don't need to sleep," Rosalie said. Emmett blinked.

"We don't need to _sleep_?" he asked. That was strange. What about the coffins? This just went against everything he knew about vampires, and especially when they didn't even have _fangs_…She shook her head.

"I know. Sunlight doesn't hurt us, either," she said. Emmett raised his eyebrows. That was just…reality was nothing like the real thing, that was for sure. "We sort of…sparkle in the sunlight." Emmett would certainly like to see Rosalie in the sunlight. She would probably be even more beautiful…no, no. He couldn't be thinking like this. Yes, he was allowed to think that she was beautiful, that was a given. Also, it would be rude to her not to acknowledge that, but…that was all he could think. She was beautiful, end of story. He wasn't allowed to linger on the details, like how her mouth looked or the way her windswept hair shone.

"Interesting," he said simply. She shrugged.

"We should find somewhere though, to wait for Edward. We don't want him searching forever. We'll stick to the general area. Then we can sort of make our presence known. Edward will be able to smell my scent," she said. Of course Edward would be able to pick up her scent. Of course she wanted him to find them as soon as possible. She was probably missing him terribly.

"You think he's coming on Friday or on Saturday?" he asked.

"Friday, I hope." Emmett nodded. Edward would be there in a day. That made things easier for Emmett. He could do this. He could see Rosalie as a sister…he would do it. He wouldn't betray his brother, and he would make sure that Edward didn't know what he was thinking. It would make things strained between them if Edward caught wind of Emmett's attraction to his girl, or wife, or whatever her specific title was.

"Let's get started, then."

**A/N: **So, it just wasn't the hunt...it was like, some other stuff, too. I have to throw in a little misunderstanding. You may think that it's predictable...but you know, that's the way Emmett thinks. Besides, it makes sense, doesn't it? Review for me, please?

Oh, yeah, and the thing about the Grizzly attacking because it was late going into hibernation and was desperate for food is why I sped through the summer. That's a fact, what I said. Really, Timothy Treadwell, the Grizzly Man, was killed by a Grizzly who was late going into hibernation and desperate for food on October 3, 2003. So, he was my inspiration for the Grizzly's behavior. Um yeah, just though that you might want to know that...


	17. Smile for Your Brother

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Okay, so I'm getting back to Rosalie's POV for a little while. This one and the one after it. So, yeah...I thought that this was necessary at this point. You'll get it after you read.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight _ist nicht meins.

Rosalie was beyond glad when she caught Edward's scent on the wind. He was some three miles west of them, but he would be there soon. Emmett was climbing a tree at the moment, laughing and generally acting like a three-year-old. Rosalie was angry with him again. He hadn't done a thing! He had asked her silly questions, like what her real last name was. She had told him that it had been Hale, but now she was a Cullen. He had nodded at this information then asked what her favorite color was. She hadn't even bothered to answer, just told him they should find something to hunt. They had brought down a heard of seven elk that morning, Emmett hopping from one to another, literally. Rosalie had got to eat two.

Emmett was acting like they were mere siblings. It was infuriating! She had seen him naked, for Christ's sake! Oh great, she was using the Lord's name in vain now. She was angry. Okay, so she may not have been able to see his entire body…but still! She was living with him without a shirt right now! Shouldn't this change things? It sure did for her. She tried not to stare at his chest and chiseled muscles. She bit her bottom lip, looking up the fifty-foot tree Emmett was at the top of, whooping, it sounded like. This was getting frustrating, and she was getting worked up in a wholly different way than she was used to. She was near antsy. Rosalie had trouble staying still around him. She had no idea what was happening to her, and it made her angry. Then she would see him again, and she would fidget.

"I can see Edward!" Emmett called down from his tree. Rosalie stood up quickly, brushing dirt off of her dress. Thank God. She needed to get away from Emmett. He was making her frustrated and distraught and fidgety. Rosalie ran to Edward as fast as she could. He seemed surprised by her appearance. He probably heard her eagerness in her mind.

"Thank God you're here!" she said, running right up to him. He raised an eyebrow.

"What's wrong? Something go wrong?" he asked. And of course by saying that, he meant, "Did Emmett kill anyone?" Rosalie shook her head hurriedly.

"No, he's fine and well-fed. He's also shirtless," she told him. He raised his eyebrow higher. "Wrestled a Grizzly after he had changed. The shirt was in ribbons when he was done. I was stupid. I wanted to get cleaned up as soon as possible and then I suggested it was time for him to hunt. I should have let him hunt, then gotten him cleaned up." Rosalie was distinctly aware she was talking about him like he was a child.

"Right, right. Well, you can get some more clothes for him this weekend." Rosalie heard a snapping and looked up. It appeared as if Emmett had jumped from tree to tree until he was in the one above them.

"Hello there!" he shouted, jumping off the branch he had been standing on. He landed with a solid thump three feet to the right of Edward. "How are you, Edward?" he asked. Edward looked impressed by Emmett's agility.

"I'm impressed, actually," he said.

"Why?" Emmett asked.

"You wrestled a Grizzly on your first day. I thought Rosalie would let you have a couple of elk, or something."

"We did, today." Edward nodded. "But certainly you've taken down a Grizzly before?" Edward nodded again. "See, not that impressive."

"Edward prefers mountain lions," Rosalie said, though she was completely lost as to why. Emmett looked at her, then back to Edward who nodded his agreement.

"And that was quite the show you just did," Edward said. Emmett shrugged, unassuming.

"It was fun." Edward grinned.

"Glad to hear it." Then he turned to Rosalie. "Carlisle said that you'll 'go to college' on Sunday."

"Sunday?" Rosalie asked. Why was she leaving so late?

"Carlisle was originally going to take you tomorrow, after you made an appearance in the town today, but then…things changed."

"What things?" Emmett asked. Edward looked at him, as if deciding what to say to him.

"Your wake's tonight and tomorrow's your funeral. Carlisle thought that it would be imprudent to make Rosalie leave on the same day. It's out of respect for your family. And Rosalie can make an appearance at both events," Edward said. Emmett seemed to be taken off-guard by this information. He turned his head away.

"Do you know what they're doing?" he whispered. Edward glanced at Rosalie, then back at Emmett.

"It's an empty casket. Your father came round yesterday to tell us. It was in the newspaper this morning. We were right to assume that they thought that you had been attacked. Your friends and brother found the dead Grizzly. From what your father said, they all think that when it attacked you, you stabbed it with a pocket knife or something and it died from blood loss. They went looking for you, but…" Edward didn't need to say anything else. It was self-explanatory. They had gone looking for Emmett, but he was gone. Emmett opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head.

"Well, you better get going, Rosalie," he said to her. She nodded, looking at Edward.

"It's about an hour northwest," he said to her. She nodded and started running. As she did, she thought about what Emmett must be feeling. She remembered hearing about her funeral, the way she had an empty casket, too. She had wanted to attend, go in the back of the church, but it had been too dangerous then. Carlisle was worried what would happen to the people there, just like he was worried what would happen to the people of Ketchum if Emmett stayed. Rosalie wanted to cry for Emmett's sake, but she couldn't. She could never cry again.

The hour that it took to get to the house went by quickly. She was on the patio in no time. In her absence, the backdoor had been replaced. Esme was sitting in the kitchen with Carlisle when she arrived. They looked up at her and smiled. Esme got up and walked over to her.

"Glad to see you, Rosalie," she said. Rosalie wondered why she was being particularly affectionate. She had been gone for a little over a day, barely any time to miss her. Rosalie smiled at her, though.

"Carlisle, have you taken care of my college acceptance?" she asked. Carlisle nodded.

"You're going to Wyoming State. It's far enough that we can say that it would expensive for us or you to visit regularly, and it's not Idaho State. Though I heard that Tyler wasn't going back to school for some time." Carlisle looked sympathetic as he said this. Rosalie remembered that Tyler was Emmett's older brother. It was a sad thought to think about…

"Edward told me that the wake's tonight and that the funeral is tomorrow," Rosalie said. Carlisle nodded.

"We plan on going to both. Esme thought that it might also be nice to stop by the house today, to drop off some food." Rosalie knew that it was a serious situation, but it also was slightly ironic that they, of all people, were making and bringing food to someone else.

"What about Edward? What are we saying about him?"

"He's ill at the moment. He caught a nasty cold this week. People seem to believe that he could catch a summer cold. I can say that he's too ill to come, but wanted to anyway. I think that the McCartys will appreciate that."

"When is it?" Rosalie asked.

"It starts at 6 this evening, and I believe it's until 9 at night," Carlisle told her.

"Why don't you take the day to wash up and get an outfit? You can take the whole day. I'm sure you want to," Esme suggested. Rosalie nodded, heading upstairs. She could also start thinking about what clothes to pack. Who knew how long she and Emmett would be wondering around the forest without shelter? Besides, she had to have a few suitcases with her when she 'left for college.' So Rosalie took a long, hot bath, and spent an hour brushing and grooming her hair. Then she just sat in her closet, breathing in the clothes and atmosphere. She was going to miss this part of the house the most.

The day slipped by her as she languidly sat in her closet with just her silk bathrobe on. Eventually, she put her hair in curlers and went through her black dresses, deciding which one would be appropriate for the wake and for the funeral. She would wear a hat with a miniature veil at the funeral, since wearing one at wake would be too much. She ended up settling on a knee-length black dress with capped sleeves. It was summer after all. It was much harder picking shoes, however. She had many more black shoes than she did black dresses. She ended up picking a plain pair with a ribbon accent. She was in Ketchum, Idaho, after all. She didn't want to be too showy.

Esme appeared in her room while she was putting on her makeup, though she really didn't need it. Though maybe if she wore some, Emmett would stop acting like an idiot… She looked at Esme through the vanity mirror and smiled, applying the last of her mascara and standing up.

"Time to leave, Esme?" Rosalie asked her. Esme's reflection nodded. She was wearing a simple black dress with simple black shoes. She looked like she fit the part of a doctor's wife living in a place like Ketchum. Rosalie could never be that simple. What she was wearing was about as country as she got. "I'm finished. We can go." They walked downstairs together. Carlisle was waiting for them in a pair of black slacks and a light blue dress shirt. They got into the car together and drove to the only funeral home in Ketchum in silence. "How long are we going to stay?" she asked.

"We won't stay more than an hour," Carlisle responded, pulling into a parking space and shutting off the engine. "I don't think it would be wise to stay much longer. We hardly knew him." Rosalie nodded. They got out and walked inside. She heard the distinct sounds of weeping and the shuffling of feet. The atmosphere was near stifling. The whole place was steeped in sorrow. Rosalie caught her reflection in a mirror, and was startled by how pale she looked. They usually avoided dark colors, so that they could downplay their pallor, but it was unavoidable in this situation. Wearing anything but black would be disrespectful.

They walked into the room where Emmett's wake was taking place. Rosalie wasn't sad at all, and she suspected that she looked it. She knew that Emmett was alive, in a sense, and that he was healthy and happy. But she knew that smiling and acting completely unaffected was inappropriate. Yet, she couldn't seem to find the right mindset for sadness. So she just went with carefully neutral, hoping that people would assume she was in shock, or something. Her family was the only one not crying. She saw Andy Bluffton, and Frank Carlton, and Susan Turnhol, and Emmett's family. There was Mrs. McCarty, talking to someone. Next to her stood Mr. McCarty, and who had to be Emmett's older brother, Tyler. Next to him was a girl who looked lifeless. Rosalie guessed she was Margaret Ann.

Carlisle wrote their names in the guest book and glanced at Esme and Rosalie, nodding towards the family. Rosalie shook her head. She would go by herself. Carlisle took Esme's hand and together they walked over to the family. She heard Carlisle's condolences and Mrs. McCarty's appreciation for Esme's offering of soup. Rosalie looked down at the guest book and read all the names. There weren't many names yet, but it was only 6:15. Rosalie suspected that the whole town would make an appearance. There were cards with an image of Mother Mary on them. She picked one up and turned it over, reading the back.

_Emmett Wilson McCarty. _

_March 7, 1915-October 8, 1935_

_"__But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and His care is with His elect." –Book of Wisdom_

_October 10, 1935, Howard Funeral Home, Ketchum, Idaho_

Rosalie glanced around, then hurriedly stuck the card in her brassier. She would keep it, if not for her sake, then for Emmett's. She might not ever show it to him, but it would comfort her knowing that she had taken one. She looked up when she heard steps, and saw a red-eyed woman standing next to her. It was Mary Derby, the one who had introduced everyone to her and Edward that night in the dance hall. She was the one who had introduced Emmett to her, and because of that, Rosalie liked her. Also, she seemed to just be a sweet, friendly person.

"Hello, Rosalie. Do you remember me?" she asked, sniffling slightly. Rosalie smiled sympathetically at her.

"Yes, I do. You were there that night in the dance hall, weren't you? You were the first one to talk to me and my brother." Mary smiled half-heartedly, nodding. "How are you?" Rosalie asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. Mary sniffled again, a fat teardrop leaking out of her right eye. Rosalie could smell her, and she smelled good. Quickly, she pushed that thought out of her mind. She needed to be a human now, not a vampire.

"I…I can't say honest. I loved Emmett like a brother…we grew up together. And it's been so hard on Andy, I can hardly stand it," she said, her eyes going to Andy, who was standing next to his mother and father, shaking his head.

"I…I hesitate to ask, Mary…but are you two still getting married next week?" Rosalie asked delicately. Mary shook her head.

"I don't know. Emmett was going to be Andy's best man, and—," she said, but broke off with a sob. She quickly pulled a handkerchief out of a pocket in her worn black dress and pressed it to her eyes, shoulders shaking. "I don't know if Andy could do it now, knowing that Emmett can't be there, standing right next to him as we said our vows."

"You know…maybe…maybe it would be good for him. I think that Emmett would want you two to get married, don't you? And, it's…it might be better knowing that a good, loving thing like a marriage can still occur after…despite all this sorrow," Rosalie said slowly. Mary looked up at her, eyes shining.

"You're right, Rosalie. You're absolutely right. I'll talk to Andy about it. I think, I think that if he saw it that way, he'd still want to marry me."

"Mary, I don't think it's a matter of not wanting to marry you," Rosalie told her. She nodded, taking a deep, shuddering breath.

"Thank you so much; you're so kind. I'll miss you while you're away," she said. The way she was looking at Rosalie made her feel like she honestly meant what she said. Rosalie nodded, taken aback by this behavior. Maybe country folk were just different. Mary walked away slowly, after saying a watery goodbye, and Rosalie made her way over to the McCartys.

"I am so sorry for your loss. I…I can understand what you're going through," she said sincerely. Her parents had just died, hadn't they? Mrs. McCarty clasped her shaking hand around Rosalie's. It looked like delicious smells ran in the family. The other McCartys didn't smell nearly as good as Emmett had, but they were still more appetizing than any other person in the room.

"Thank you so much for coming," Mrs. McCarty said firmly. Her eyes were completely dry. Rosalie instantly respected her for this. She was keeping it together for her remaining children.

"It's no trouble. Edward sends his condolences, and his regrets for not being able to attend himself," Rosalie said. Mrs. McCarty nodded, removing her hand.

"You should be careful, too, honey, you feel cold," she said. Rosalie nodded, moving her attention to Mr. McCarty. He shook her hand briefly, and he looked closer to tears than his wife did. This was shocking, since he was a war veteran. He had seen the battlefield, hadn't he? He didn't say anything, just nodded curtly and turned to the person behind Rosalie, who she thought was Mr. Worth with his wife.

"We never met, I'm Tyler, Emmett's older brother," the other man said crisply. It seemed like he was acting like this was all a business arrangement.

"Yes, we never did meet. I'm sorry we have to under these conditions," she said. He sighed heavily, and she noticed a slight shake in his shoulders. He, too, was a big man, though Emmett's shoulders were broader. He had the same curly hair, but was without the dimples. Rosalie glanced at Mr. and Mrs. McCarty. Mrs. McCarty was the one with dimples.

"Yes, well, it's still very nice meeting you." Rosalie nodded. Then she looked down at the lifeless girl standing next to Tyler. "Margaret Ann, my little sister. It's been hard," Tyler whispered. Rosalie nodded, bending down to look Margaret Ann in the eye.

"I'm Rosalie," she said to her. "It's nice to meet you. I like your dimples." The girl looked up at her, the first sign of life. She looked slightly confused. "Your brother had dimples, didn't he?" she asked. The girl nodded slowly. "Dimples are a good thing to have, don't you think?" Rosalie had no idea what she was doing, or what she was saying. The girl nodded again, looking even more confused. "You know, you can see dimples better when you smile." She didn't nod or do anything, just continued to stare. "So, you're just going to have to smile even more, to show enough dimple for you and your brother, aren't you?" Margaret Ann's bottom lip began to quiver. Then she burst out crying. Rosalie straightened, shocked, then reflexively hugged the girl, embracing her as hard as she could without breaking her.

Margaret Ann wrapped her arms around Rosalie's neck and sobbed into her shoulder. Tyler was hovering nearby, apologizing and trying to extract Margaret Ann away from Rosalie. Rosalie shook her head at Tyler and slowly led Margaret Ann out of the room, into the foyer, where she sat down on the couch there. She allowed Margaret Ann to place her head on her lap. She cried hard into Rosalie's black dress, and Rosalie combed her hair with her fingers. She had dark, slightly wavy hair that was really pretty.

"It's going to be okay," Rosalie whispered. The girl shook her head. "It is. There's something called a guardian angel, Margaret Ann. Emmett's going to be yours. He's alive, as long as you remember him. Also, every time you smile, you'll bring him to life on your own. Every smile is a little piece of Emmett." Eventually, Margaret Ann stopped crying and fell asleep on Rosalie's lap. It was almost too easy for Rosalie to ignore the aching in the back of her throat. Esme came over to the two of them with Carlisle.

"Rosalie, it's time to go," Carlisle said to her. She nodded and looked into the room. She caught Tyler's eye and he walked over, saying his thanks and picking the still sleeping Margaret Ann up, cradling her like a baby. "We'll see you tomorrow, Tyler," Carlisle said to him, taking Rosalie's hand and leading both her and Esme out of the funeral home.

**A/N: **Some of you may think that doing this is unnecessary, but it's going to be put into play later on. Also, I was trying to show a softer side of Rosalie with this... She'll go back to her regular self after this bit is over...yes, I'm continuing with this string of events in the next chapter.


	18. The Funeral of Emmett McCarty

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, this is the funeral of Emmett McCarty. I had some fun with this, actually, even though it's a sad concept. I was really trying to give Rosalie some deep emotions with this...but I wanted to see someone get taken down...you'll understand once you have read.

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_--why aren't you mine, giving me tons of money and fame and like, stardom?

In the morning, Rosalie curled her hair again, and donned her funeral clothes with the hat she had opted not to wear the night before. Carlisle had asked all about Emmett's first day as a vampire, and Rosalie told him everything, carefully leaving out seeing him in the stream and her fidgetiness around him. Carlisle told her that he had already spoken with a contractor about building a cabin out in the wilderness. He said that construction could begin soon, and told her the suggested location, so that she and Emmett could stay away from it while humans were building it. Carlisle said that it would take a month to build it, and that it was going to take round the clock workers to get it up that fast. Rosalie had nodded at all of this, saying that she and Emmett could find an abandoned hunting cabin in the mean time.

"Rosalie, we're leaving now," Esme said from her door just as Rosalie was putting in her second earring. She got up and went to the car with her and Carlisle. The funeral was held at a local Catholic church, and it was simple ceremony, but the church was packed. The whole town had come out for it. All four of the men who had been hiking with Emmett stood and said a few words. Andy broke down crying at the end of his. Mary ushered him back into his seat, whispering in his ear. Tyler managed to get a laugh out of the whole congregation, though his own laugh was watery, and when he sat down, Rosalie saw his shoulders shaking. Frank said some things that were sweet and had some people bursting into renewed tears. Richie's speech was somewhat generic, but still heartfelt.

The ceremony ended and the palm bearers took the empty casket to the hearse that was parked outside. Slowly, everyone made their way outside and into their cars, or tractors, or pick-ups. They all drove to the old cemetery and walked out for the final burial. Rosalie was still having a hard time finding the right mindset. She couldn't bring herself to look sad. When she whispered her thoughts to Carlisle, he turned his head and whispered low in her ear, so that not even Esme could hear what he said.

"Do you remember how you felt when we didn't know if we had been in time to save Emmett's life? Imagine that we weren't. That's how these people feel." Rosalie straightened up suddenly. How could she forget that feeling of having her life crash around her? How could she forget the feeling of having a whole existence lost? Suddenly, her shoulders were shaking and she had to cover her mouth to block out the sudden sob that escaped her lips. It was louder than she had thought and she saw several people looked over at her. She turned her face into Carlisle's shoulder, dry sobbing into it. How had she been so neutral? If this was how these people felt and how they would always feel, then she was a heartless woman for not being more empathetic.

In those moments, it really was like Emmett was dead. She was attending his funeral, wasn't she? Emmett was gone, and she had been too late to save him, and now she was at his funeral. She was at his funeral, and there was nothing she could do to save him. She had done all she could, but it had been a waste, a failure. Emmett was gone and she was left alone in this world. She heard people moving around her once the service was over, but Carlisle stayed standing with her, moving so that he could wrap his arms around her. She also felt Esme's comforting hands on her back and soft whispers that meant nothing in the face of Rosalie's utter sorrow.

"She didn't even know him. She met him once," she heard a snide voice saying. Rosalie looked up, over Carlisle's shoulder, still shaking. It was Susan Turnhol. She was talking to a girl Rosalie had never seen.

"I know. She just moved here, too," the other said, glancing around at the people moving around them.

"She looked like the type to try to bring all the attention to herself. I _loved_ Emmett, and you don't see me making a public display of myself, do you?" Susan said, throwing a glare in Rosalie's direction. She didn't notice Rosalie's eyes on her. She was also far enough away that if Rosalie had been human, she would be unable to hear what they were saying.

"She does, doesn't she? Look at that hat with the veil. Where does she think she is, anyway?" the second girl said.

"I don't know, but she irks me. I don't like her; she's a dramatic. I'm glad that she's leaving tomorrow. Good riddance, I say," Susan said. Three feet behind her, well within hearing distance, Mary stood with Andy, who was red-eyed and shaking. Mary's eyes were red, but hard and glinting.

"How dare you say those things!" Mary said loudly. Susan started and slowly turned around. "How _dare_ you!" The other girl turned around as well, with a scared look on her face. "How dare you say those things at Emmett's funeral! How dare you question someone else's sorrow!"

"She barely knew him!" Susan said back. "I loved Emmett!" This comment seemed to anger Mary further.

"You loved him, did you? So you haven't been mooning over Edward Cullen since you met him? You certainly didn't love Emmett before he died! If there's anyone trying to draw attention, it's you!" Rosalie was done sobbing. She liked Mary a whole lot more for this.

"What are you accusing me of, exactly, Mary? Who are you to talk? You're getting married! You're getting married less than a week after his death! What kind of a friend are you?" Andy stepped up then.

"Susan, I think it's time for you to leave. You've said enough." Susan turned quickly on her heel, and walked away angrily, her friend following behind her. Rosalie caught her eye from over Carlisle's shoulder and gave a little smirk. Susan let out a shriek and pushed forward, just as it began to rain.

In the morning, Rosalie packed two suitcases for her and one for Emmett into Carlisle's car. He would drive her out of Ketchum, and then Rosalie would take the suitcases into the wilderness to find Edward and Emmett. When they had passed the town limit, Carlisle pulled over to the side of the road. They both got of the car and unloaded it. When her suitcases were lined up on the side of the road, Carlisle took her in his arms.

"I'll miss you, Rosalie. Keep safe," he said. Rosalie returned his embrace and stepped back. "Edward will come as often as he can. You should move away from the location I told you within the next three days. Fifty miles should be enough again." Rosalie nodded mutely. "You'll take care of yourself and Emmett, won't you?"

"Of course I will, Carlisle," she said. He grinned.

"That's my daughter," he said. Then he got in the car and was gone. Rosalie took a deep breath and picked the three suitcases up, walking into the forest.

**A/N: **Back to Emmett's in the next chapter... which I haven't actually written. So, review for me and tell me what you think of Susan being taken down after being a complete jerk. Also, going to use that later on, a bit. I don't know if anyone will think that the whole Susan thing was necessary or if it was a waste of time, or that it was a needless detail...but yeah, it made me happy. So, give me feedback.


	19. Being a Perpetual Five Year Old

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Okay, so this is my Emmett POV. I don't know if I'm going to have another one after this. I might go back to Rosalie. I haven't decided. I tried to think of Emmett-y things for him to think about, and I think I got a couple in there. So, enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_...belongs to Stephenie Meyer.

It was easy for Emmett to see Edward's relief when Rosalie made her way to where they were, carrying three large suitcases. He hurried over to her and took one of the suitcases. Emmett had been thinking about doing that himself, but now it was too late, and Rosalie's hubby had beaten him to the punch. Emmett had been thinking about the most mundane things he could for the past three days, and he was beginning to suspect that Edward thought he was a complete idiot. Emmett had at one point resorted to going through the alphabet in his head, finding a word that went with each letter.

_A is for…archery._

_B is for…bee-bee gun. _

_C is for…Charlie Chaplin. _

_D is for…delivery._

_E is for…electric eel._

_F is for…France. _

He was actually sure that Edward thought he had the mind of a five-year-old. He had gotten desperate. He had been trying not to think about wondering about his relationship with Rosalie, and now that she was there, standing in front of him, he had to work extra hard to think innocent, innocuous, and yes, elementary things.

_G is for…green beans._

_H is for…hotdogs. _

God, did he want a hotdog. He wanted one more than he wanted the stray deer a mile away. He wanted a burnt hotdog, one that he had made himself. Edward had told him vampires have the ability to eat human food, but it wasn't advisable due to fact that the food had to come back up. So, though Emmett wanted a hotdog, he didn't want to have to regurgitate it afterwards.

"I'll see you two in a month, around Thanksgiving," Edward said, giving Rosalie a significant look that had to be conveying the way he would miss her.

"Yes, have fun with the food holiday," Rosalie told him, grimacing at the thought. Edward chuckled, waved at Emmett and sprinted off, gone from sight in seconds. Rosalie walked over to him and dropped one of the large suitcases next to him. "It's yours. Clothes, soap, towels. Everything that you'll need for awhile," she said to him. He nodded, wondering how far away Edward would have to be for him not to be able to hear Emmett's thoughts.

_I is for…idiot. Emmett, you are an idiot. _

"Thanks, Rosalie," he said to her.

"We're going looking for a shelter. I'm hoping to find a hunting cabin or a ranger station. Carlisle will have a cabin ready for us in a month. Edward is going to take us there." Emmett nodded. "In the mean time, we can't be within fifty miles of where it's going to be because you might catch wind of the humans building it, and eat them." Emmett nodded again, feeling like a bobble head doll. He stopped nodding. He picked up give suitcase and reached for one of hers. "Put on a shirt first," she told him. He sighed and opened his suitcase, pulling out a green shirt and pulling it over his head.

"You know, I wish I had my old clothes. I like them," he said.

"You're family isn't going to be giving them to us, that's for sure," she said. Emmett nodded. He wanted to ask her how they were, how his funeral was, but couldn't bring him to ask it just yet. Maybe he would ask later, when they had found somewhere to live for a month. "Come on, let's move," she said, nodding her head towards the trees. She started running, her blond hair flowing behind her. He noticed that it was slightly curly and decided that he liked it. No…no he couldn't be thinking like this. Well, was there really anything wrong with thinking about how nice your sister's hair looked curly? No, not really.

He followed her, a suitcase in either hand. He noticed that her suitcase was considerably heavier than his own, but by no means hard for him to carry. He really did enjoy his new strength and speed and everything else. He liked feeling it in his bones and muscles, coiled and waiting to be set free. It was too easy to pass Rosalie, though he had no idea where they were going, but he suspected that she didn't either.

"Why do you have to be such a five-year-old?" she called after him. Her saying what he was sure Edward had to be thinking was enough to stop him dead in his tracks. Okay, so maybe this whole thing was making him look like a kid, or an idiot. Or both. He really didn't want Rosalie to see him as an idiotic five-year-old. What he really wanted her to think of him was something completely different. And though he had promised himself that he wouldn't think about her this way, after his realization that what he wanted he could never have, he had to. He had just spent three days, three _full_ days actively not thinking about it. He had been so worried that Edward would catch wind of his attractions and feelings for his girl that he had resorted to playing the "What word goes with this letter of the alphabet?" game in his head. An alphabet game in his head!

Being a vampire might be messing with his head. Or no, really, being a vampire really wasn't the problem. It was more or less Rosalie. She was getting into his head and messing it all up. He wanted her so bad, and he just wished that she wanted him to, or was at least able to want him. But there was no way that just because he had showed up in her life, and happened smell like the most delicious thing she could think of, and now was permanently a part of her life, didn't mean that her feelings would suddenly change. She wouldn't latch onto him just because he smells so delectable. He didn't even smell the same, anyway, anymore. Edward had told him that now he was a vampire, he wouldn't tempt Rosalie the same way anymore. He had been "neutralized" as Edward put it.

"Are you going to start moving any time soon, Emmett?" he heard her snap. He blinked and looked at her. He had just been standing there, in the middle of the forest, thinking. God, now she must think he was close to brain-dead. She really was messing with his head. This was going to be hard to do. In order not to make her uncomfortable with his attraction to her, he would have to reduce himself to toddlerhood. This was going to be frustrating. It was also going to be self-degrading. It wasn't like he was going to enjoy acting like a perpetual child.

Eventually they found a rectangular building. It was small, but they were still some ways away. He was the one who spotted it amongst the tree trunks. It sort of blended in.

"Hey Rosalie," he said, slowing down, so that she could catch up with him. When she did she said,

"What?" shortly. She was upset, and he couldn't decide if it was because of the way he was acting, or if it was because she was going to have to be away from her Edward for a month. Or maybe it was because she had to be away from Edward to be with his purposefully immature person.

"There's a house or something in front of us," he said. She looked in the way he was motioning with the suitcase in his right hand.

"Stay here," she told him, placing the hand that she wasn't using on his chest. He stopped at her signal. "Don't come after me. I'll be back in five minutes." Then she set down her suitcase and hurried towards the building. Emmett stood there waiting, wondering exactly she was doing without him. It wasn't like the building could be inhabited by anything that posed a danger to either of them…well, maybe she was worried that something, or more specifically someone, was in danger because of them, or really, him. She came back in five minutes, just like she had said she would. "No one's been there for a while, and I don't think they'll be making a trip to visit it now. It's too late in the year, and it's too deep in the forest." Emmett nodded and picked up all three suitcases, running over to the building with her.

It was easy to smell that she had been in and around the house. Her scent was still floating around the air. He walked into the hunting cabin behind her. It wasn't large at all. But it was big enough to sport a living room with a fireplace, a small kitchen with a gas stove, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. There must be a cellar as well, because he could smell slightly stale food, though he couldn't see where it was coming from.

"This is our home for all intents and purposes until our real one actually gets built," she said, taking her two suitcases and walking into one of the bedrooms. He noticed that she took the larger of the two.

"It's not what you're used to, is it?" he asked her. She set her cases down on the ground and turned back to him.

"I'll manage," she said simply, closing the door on him. He could hear her unpacking her things and setting them down and hanging them up. He figured he might as well do the same thing. So he went into the other room and opened his suitcase again, unloading the slacks and shirt and placing them in the drawers of the wooden dresser. His room was tastefully decorated with both a pair of large buck's horns and an actual buck head. The black eyes of the buck stared unseeingly at him and Emmett felt a chill run down his spine. Yes, deer tasted good, but he didn't want one staring him down every time he walked into his bedroom. So once he was done unpacking his things, he took the head down from the wall and walked into the living room with it. Rosalie walked out of her bedroom just as he was deciding what he was going to do with the head. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"I don't know where to put it," he told her.

"Why don't you just leave it where it was?" she asked him, placing her hands on her wonderfully curved hips and staring at him. He had to tear his gaze away from her hands resting on her curve, and shrug.

"I don't like him in my room. It creeps me out," he told her. She sighed impatiently.

"You eat them, for God's sake," she said.

"That may be true, but I don't want to have one hanging in my room, looking at me every time I change," he said. Her eyes widened at his inadvertent reference to her own experience with him not fully clothed, or clothed at all, really.

"This isn't our house, and I won't have you ripping down whoever's deer head! Now put it back!" she told him, pointing one slender finger back towards his room. He debated whether he should argue the point. He was sure that with a little convincing she would come around to his way of seeing things, but it was only their first day together, in this house at least, and she was already upset with him, so he thought that it might be best to capitulate. He would try to move the head again another time.

"I didn't rip it down. It was mounted, and I merely dismounted it," he told her, however. Then he walked back to his room and remounted the head on the wall, making a note to turn his back to it whenever he changed or went into the room to get something. When he walked back out, Rosalie was contemplating the living room.

It was sparsely decorated with a couch and two large, jumpy armchairs angled towards the fireplace. There was also a table with three mismatched chairs shoved in the corner. Emmett assumed that it was meant to function as a dining room table.

"This won't do at all," she said, more to herself than to him. Then she walked around to the other wall, as if to consider the set-up from a different angle. "There's a chopping stump outside with an ax. Rip out a tree or something and chop us some firewood," she said distractedly. It was like she was giving him something to do, so that his childish self wouldn't get bored and do something dumb. Emmett, although this thought slightly annoyed him, did like the opportunity to rip a tree from the ground. It was something he hadn't done yet, and he was excited to see how it would feel.

**A/N: **Yeah, so if I write it in Emmett's POV again, I might actually do him chopping the wood, or I might do Rosalie inside while his does it if I decide to her POV. I have to decide. I don't know. I think that exploring Rosalie's feelings for him (and her frustration at his front of not reciprocating) is interesting to me right now, but I don't want to lose sight of Emmett's thoughts, either. It's a dilemma that might prevent me from posting tomorrow. I almost didn't write this tonight to post. So, review, please!


	20. Chop and Chop and Chop

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, this is in Emmett's POV again. I got some people saying they really enjoyed his POVs and that they would like this to be him. But that's not exactly why I did it; sure, it had something to do with it...it's just...well, I'm not entirely sure why I decided I wanted to stick with Emmett. Anyway, the next one is going to be Rosalie's POV. Anyway, enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, _Twilight_ is.

It took Emmett awhile to find a tree worthy of being ripped from the ground by him. He wasn't going to mess around with saplings or little trees. He wanted a big guy. He wanted one that had been there for a long time, one that would at least try to put up a fight. Finally, around a half a mile away from the cabin, he found it. It stood at thirty feet tall, with a thick trunk and giant roots going deep into the ground. Its many branches reached far, touching every tree in its vicinity, like it was claiming its space, owning it. Emmett respected the tree, for some reason. It reminded him a little of Andy Bluffton, the way that it would never be open to bullying. It stood tall, wide, and proud. Emmett rubbed his hands together, excited with the opportunity to rip it out of the ground. Of course when he actually started to chop it into firewood, he would have to stop comparing it to Andy. He didn't want to be thinking about he was chopping tree-Andy into logs that would keep the cabin warm.

Emmett walked around the tree, deciding from which side he wanted to stand on. He was reminded of the way he had just seen Rosalie contemplating the living room. He liked to think that they did similar things. It was alright to have things in common with your siblings and like that, right? What was he thinking? He was acting like he had never had siblings. True, he had never been attracted to either Tyler or Margaret Ann, so he couldn't exactly apply the same rules to this situation, could he? But wasn't he striving to feel that she was just a sibling? So why shouldn't he stick to those standards? And how in the world had just walking around a tree brought on all these thoughts?

Fed up with the way he mind was working, he planted his feet on the ground, wrapped his arms around the trunk as far around as they would go. _Pull with your legs, not your back_, his father's voice in the back of his head said. Emmett nodded as if his pop was standing there, watching as his son was pulling out a giant tree from the earth, and pulled up, using the muscles in his legs, not his back. The tree was the first thing to put up a decent fight against Emmett's strength. Even the Grizzly was nothing to this. Still, though it was a notable resistance, it was no way a serious one. He could feel the roots move underneath his feet as they were pulled to the surface. It took him around five or so minutes to get the nearest roots up out of the earth. It was sort of hard to do what he was doing, with the earth moving up as he tugged. He had had to adjust his footing more than once. Also, he wasn't getting any taller, so his original plan to just pull up wasn't going to work. He may be able to pull a giant tree from its roots or run like the wind, but he couldn't fly. So instead, he started to pull sideways, easing the tree out horizontally.

He ripped it totally from the ground two minutes after applying the strategy. He stood there, the roots covered in dirt, a sizable hole in the ground where they had once been, and grinned. Then he realized that he was holding the tree no where near the middle. It was sort of like he was holding a very large baseball bat. He grinned at this thought and considered actually shaving it down, so that it would look even more like one. All he really had to do was get rid of the branches and roots, thin it down a little…no, not he couldn't do that…at least not with this tree. He was going to cut this tree just like Rosalie had asked him to. They would have enough firewood for years when he was done. Though he wasn't even sure why she had asked him to cut firewood for a fire that they didn't even need. It had discovered on his own, in the stream, that he wasn't affected by temperature. His skin stayed that same icy coolness he had felt during his transformation.

So with all this in mind, he set down the tree and ran back to the house, grabbing the ax so that he could cut away the branches, and then back again. He had decided that it would be a stupid endeavor to try to carry the tree back with him, branches and all. The remaining trees grew close together. Currently, his uprooted tree was leaning against the closest one. Emmett climbed the diagonal trunk to the first thick branches and hacked them away with ease. He quickly moved his way up the tree until the branches laid strewn across the surrounding area. It looked as if a tree massacre had just occurred, and really, Emmett thought, it had. He had just uprooted and chopped the tree. He had murdered the tree, no doubts about it. But it had been fun, oh, it had been fun. Emmett was grinning as he made numerous trips to the cabin and back, moving all of the pieces of the tree. He saved the trunk for last.

He was meticulous with his chopping. He was consistent with his pattern. Cutting the larger pieces into smaller cylinders, then chopping those cylinders into fourths and then so on, until he got firewood, each piece about a foot long and half a foot thick. He had just finished the branches when he turned to look into the cabin for the first time. He was surrounded by piles of firewood and tinder (from the smaller branches) when he did so. He had no idea what he had been expecting, but he was surprised when he saw Rosalie looking at him. He blinked several times, wondering how long she had been looking at him chop and chop and chop. It couldn't have been all that interesting to watch, so she couldn't have been looking at him for very long. He waved at her. She walked out of view, only to walk through the door leading to outside.

"How is that you get every single shirt you wear completely ruined?" she asked him. Emmett looked down at the green shirt he had donned earlier that day and saw that it was torn in a couple of places and dirty, a couple pieces of bark stuck to the fabric. He grinned at her.

"I can't help it. Besides, you were the one who told me to get a tree and chop it up," he told her.

"I told you find a tree and chop it up for firewood, yes, but not to make a mess of yourself. You have dirt all over you, bark on your shirt and in your hair, and you generally look as if you just spent the day rolling around on the forest floor. Oh yes, she was speaking to him like he was a child. It was what he deserved, wasn't it, for acting the way he was?

_J is for... juvenile, indeed. _

"I'm sorry, Rosalie, that I got a little dirty while ripping a tree from it roots and chopping most of it into little, manageable pieces for a fireplace we don't even need to use," he said like a petulant child. Well, at least his toddler-like personality was well-rounded.

"I appreciate your effort, and for your information, the fire is for appearance's sake only. You could, however, at least _try_ to keep yourself in a presentable fashion. That's all I'm asking," she said. Emmett wasn't sure if he should just apologize, though he really didn't see any reason why he should, or push the subject. He took a deep breath, catching the scent of a moose some two miles off. Ooh, moose. He hadn't had a moose yet, and couldn't they get up to 1,000 pounds? Maybe he could ride it for a little before he ate it…no, no, he had to keep his mind on the present. He let his breath out with a whoosh. He had let her have her way once today, and he really didn't want that deer head in his room, watching him like some creepy observer. He wasn't going to let her have this one.

"Rosalie, you have hardly seen me. You've seen me in a grand total of four outfits. One of which I was perfectly presentable in and the second of which I had been recently mauled in, so that hardly counts, especially since you looked maybe one iota better that I did at the time. As for the third outfit you've seen me in, I was wrestling a Grizzly. Have you ever wrestled a Grizzly without getting something ripped? The same goes for pulling a tree from its _roots_. Have you ever done that without getting mussed up? If you have done either of those things, I apologize. If you can do it, then certainly I can too. However, you haven't done those things, then you have no say in the way I look afterwards," he said to her, feeling more like himself than he had since before he had been mauled. Rosalie narrowed her eyes at him, and pursed her lips. She obviously hadn't been expecting him to do this. Obviously she had thought that she could scold him like the child he had been acting like, and be done with it. No expects a chastised five-year-old to put forth a solid argument. Backtalk, yes, was predictable, but not an argument. She clenched her jaw, deciding what to tell him.

"Fine, Emmett, walk around like some sort of Mountain Man. Feel free. Go right ahead. But if you mess up my cabin, I will personally rip you limb from limb," she said with a surprising amount of acid in her voice. So Rosalie didn't like to be contested. He would have to keep that in mind.

"Rosalie, you know that I could stop you if you did decide to do that, don't you?" he asked her, trying to hide the satisfied smile that he could feel spreading across his face. But she caught it. Oh yes, she caught it.

"You want to test that theory? Because not a goddamn thing is going to stop me if I do decide to! You hear me?" she said. Emmett was surprised by how angry she was. He had already learned that Rosalie didn't swear unless she was furious. Well, it was nice to know that he could get her riled so easily. Fury was a strong emotion wasn't it? Strong emotions meant passion, right? And passion meant—no, no, it didn't matter what passion meant. He didn't want to care. He was trying, God yes was he trying, not to think about these things. But her eyes were glinting in the most attractive way, and her pink lips sort of look like they were blowing a—very angry—kiss.

"Loud and clear," he said, turning away from her, picking the ax up again, "but that doesn't mean that what you said was true." He couldn't help adding the last part. He just couldn't let it go. She had got him to keep that blasted head in his room, with its sightless eyes burning holes in his back. She could put up with a little dirt, for God's sake. Though he wasn't in his room, with that deer head, he got the same feeling. Rosalie must be trying to bring to life the saying "if looks could kill" with some serious vigor. It made him a little uncomfortable, but he wasn't about to turn around and try to appease her. She would have to deal with her anger on her own. He was done, for now.

"My God! You child!" she screamed suddenly. He heard her turn on her heel and march back into the cabin with hard steps, making indentations in the earth. She did, however, manage not to break the door in her rage as she slammed it shut. Emmett thought it was amusing that she should scream that he was a child, then act like a little girl who just didn't get the dolly she wanted for Christmas. She had been brought up rich and spoiled, he could tell. The way that she didn't like his less-than-presentable appearance and how it irked her, the mounds of clothes she owned, and even the way she held herself and walked, all pointed to her having been born with a silver spoon in her mouth. And if not, then she had certainly been raised that she was destined, even deserved, to be spoiled the same way she had been in her childhood.

He knew this; he knew that she wanted everything her way. He knew that she would take the bigger bedroom without asking, and let him carry her heavy suitcase without him offering, that she would boss him around and be irate when he didn't just bend to her wishes. He knew all of this, but that didn't stop him at all from wanting her. Oh no, if anything, he wanted her more. She was so different from any other woman he had ever come across. Not only was she extremely beautiful (and that could never be forgotten), but she also acted differently. She was a lady, that was for sure. She was an extremely spoiled, self-centered lady, yes, that was also for sure. But that didn't make her any less elegant or desirable in his mind.

He also knew that with her partiality to all things elegant and expensive, he could never satisfy her, had she even been his to satisfy. His family had been by no means rich or what she was used to. Yes, they had more money than the farming families, but Emmett wouldn't have been able to get her the things that she wanted, even if he was still a human. As of right now, he had no money, because it wasn't like he could take the money from his bank account now that he was dead. The clothes that he was wearing weren't even his. The Cullens who were his new family and apparently quite well-off had bought them for him. His clothes had been bought by people that up until a week ago, held very little interest to him as a whole. And now they were buying him clothes. How could even hope to give Rosalie the things that she liked when he was unable to even buy himself anything?

Suddenly, his situation with Rosalie had gotten worse. Not only was she attached to Edward, who was handsome and knew exactly what she was thinking, but he was unable to fulfill any of her material wishes. As if she would ask him for the things she wanted, anyway. No, she had Edward to do that. Emmett wasn't in the mood to chop the trunk anymore. He had enjoyed it before, but now…now he was just too down in the dumps to even lift the ax to cut it. So he just let the ax drop on the ground, and trudged inside. He barely noticed the way that Rosalie had managed to make the living room bigger by rearranging the furniture.

He trudged into his room and flopped on his bed, wishing more than anything that he could go to sleep, and forget about everything he couldn't stop thinking about.

**A/N: **So, Emmett's a little more melancholy at the end. Though he did have some fun before, with the tree and arguing with Rosalie. So, hope you all enjoyed it! Review, please, because reviews make me happy. Which reminds me, I really enjoyed MistyHazy's review for the last chapter. Also, if anyone has noticed that I word my disclaimer differently every time, you can say that, too. It's hard thinking up new ones every day.


	21. A New Doorway Courtesy of Emmett

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Sorry that it took me so long to update. Just to let you all know, I felt (feel) really guilty for making you all wait for it. I just couldn't get into it, and yeah, well, I'm leaving for home on Wednesday, and things are getting a little busy. I'll try to write the next chapter this weekend, but I don't know...and then Monday and Tuesday are all going to be preparation for the flight. I might write it on the the 9 hour flight home...I'll just have to see how it works out. Anyway, sorry for blabbing so much after making you all wait so long for this. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **My name be not Stephenie Meyer.

Rosalie was in her room, too angry to really get to the reason why she was so furious. What was his _problem_? What is so incredibly difficult about putting on a clean shirt and keeping it that way? To think that she had been watching him! Again! What was wrong with her? Since when was she the type of woman to watch a man _chop wood_? Yes, she had taken pleasure in seeing him work over the branches and make them into logs. She had no idea how long she had been watching him when he looked up at her, catching her looking at him _again_. He was going to start thinking that she was some kind of—of pervert! That is, if he even thought anything at all. That CHILD!

Rosalie heard him walk into the cabin and then into the bathroom on the other side of Rosalie's bedroom wall. Then she heard the bath water running. Well, at least he was cleaning himself up. She would not live with a Mountain Man. She deserved more than that. She deserved more than this. This horrible situation she was in: staring at the man who instead of being attracted to her found it more interesting to act like a child. What, exactly, was wrong with him? Was there something that was missing in his head that made him not attracted to her? She had accepted long ago that Edward had something wrong with him, and that was the reason he didn't want her. But, Emmett…Emmett had thought that she looked like a goddess! A goddess. Maybe the transformation process had damaged his brain, reducing him to the intelligence of a child.

Rosalie wanted to punch something. She had been so very eager to volunteer to watch over Emmett for his newborn year so that maybe something could happen. They would be able to spend a year, alone, bonding and…and something! She wasn't exactly sure what she had wanted when she had volunteered to do this, but she certainly hadn't wanted to end up babysitting him! That was what she was doing: babysitting him. It was ludicrous.

So she sat fuming on the bed that she would never use, trying to calm herself down enough so that she wasn't tempted to break anything she could get her hands on. It was harder than she thought it would be. But, eventually, she got her temper under control, and was just about to go into the living room when she heard,

"Jesus H. Christ!" and Emmett promptly came crashing through the wooden wall separating the bathroom and her bedroom. Rosalie jumped out of the way. He landed on her bed, hair wet, a towel wrapped around his waist. But she couldn't linger at the sight of his wet and half-naked because there was a gaping, Emmett-sized hole in her wall. She stared at the splintered wood for a full fifteen seconds, absorbing the new situation and its ramifications. Then she turned to Emmett.

"What do you think you're doing, wrecking the cabin? Do you think at _all_? This isn't our cabin! This has to be fixed! And I'll be damned if I'm the one to do it!" she shouted at him. He looked shocked and scared, which wasn't something she was expecting, since he had the gall to talk back to her outside when she confronted him about his appearance. "Why in the hell did you come crashing in here?" she asked. He pointed through the hole and into the bathroom wordlessly. She followed his finger with her eyes and saw the mirror above the sink. "It's a mirror," she told him.

"I know—it's…it's—," he struggled for words. Rosalie sighed impatiently.

"We are reflected in mirrors, you know. That little piece of vampire lore is just a myth," she said, folding her arms and frowning at him. "That's no reason to come crashing into my bedroom through the wall. It's not like seeing yourself is something new. You did look in the mirror when you were human, didn't you?"

"It's not the reflection I'm used to!" he said, tearing his gaze away from the bathroom to look at her.

"Well, you're paler, and more handsome, I suppose," she said, trying to assure him, though she couldn't fathom why. Logic told her to rip him apart for ripping apart her wall. An eye for an eye was the logical way to deal with this.

"My eyes! My _eyes_, Rosalie! What's wrong with my _eyes_?" he asked. Rosalie gasped. How could she have forgotten about his eyes? Now that he brought her attention to them, they were the same lurid blood red that she had once had. She had been too preoccupied by the rest of him to linger on the two scarlet orbs in his face. It also hadn't occurred to her or anyone one else to explain them to him.

"There's nothing wrong with them, per say," she began, but he cut her off before she could go on.

"Are you kidding me? They're red! Red like a goddamn devil! How is that alright? You explain that to me, Rosalie!" he said, standing up. He sighed heavily. "I'm sorry I'm yelling and swearing, but…it's not right, Rosalie, having these eyes. Something has to be wrong. You and Edward and Mr. and Mrs. Cullen don't have red eyes."

"I know we don't. It's because we drink animal blood, not human," she said.

"Oh yes, because I have just been indulging in the human blood," he said sarcastically.

"No, you haven't drunk any, but you're full of it. It's the same reason why you're so strong. You have vast amounts of human blood in your system. Once your newborn year is over, and you've eaten through all of your human blood, your eyes will turn gold like ours…but when we're thirsty, they get darker and darker. It's…it's a thing. I don't quite understand it." She couldn't be mad at him. He had a legitimate reason for coming crashing into her bedroom. She had screamed her lungs out when she first saw her eyes.

"You're telling me that I'm going to look like a demon for a year?" he asked.

"You don't look like a demon, Emmett," she said patiently.

"Oh yeah, because I sure as hell think I do," he said, pointing into the bathroom with an accusing finger. "I mean, I think I do," he corrected himself. How was it that he was still guilty about swearing? Rosalie just let the words burst from her mouth in her anger, and he was upset. It was understandable, she thought, that he could swear without apologizing for it afterwards. He was quite the country gentleman…which just angered her further, since he was being completely dense when it came to her. He was alone with her. They were alone. Together. Shouldn't he be taking advantage of the situation?

God, what was she thinking? She actually wanted him to take advantage of their position? Of her? Unbidden, her eyes sank from his face to his glistening body. She hungrily stared at him, biting her bottom lip. She was getting twitchy again, and this time it didn't make her feel uncomfortable. She was strangely…warm. That was ridiculous because she couldn't actually be warm…but there it was. She was warm, heated almost. She swallowed thickly. Emmett looked even better up close without a shirt on while he was wet. She had seen him from far away in the stream, and when he spent the day without his shirt after his wrestling match with the Grizzly, she had been too annoyed to get a good, uninterrupted look at his bare chest. But now…now she was getting a good look. Water from the bath was clinging to his flawless skin, a few drops running down his abdominals, following the same path as a fascinating trail of black hair, down to the edge of the towel wrapped around his hips.

Her breath caught in her throat as she considered this trail of hair. She followed it back up to his belly button, to his chest, where it spread out in a fine smattering. Then it hit her, what she was doing. Her eyes snapped up to his. Hopefully he was thinking she was lost in thought, not ogling his exposed, muscled, glistening skin. She had no idea how long she had been doing it, and hoped it hadn't been for too long.

"There's nothing that I can do to help you except say that you're not a demon, and that it won't last forever. A year may seem like along time to you, but when you have eternity stretched before you, a year is nothing. Also, take comfort in the fact that no one is really going to see you except for me, and I don't mind," she said. She swallowed, wondering what, exactly, he might take out of her last comment.

Well, why she should she worry what he might take out of it? Maybe he should take something out of it! Maybe a little urging from her would wake him up. But she wasn't going to say anything about the way his exposed chest made her want to stare and stare or the way that she wanted him to want her. Women just didn't do that. Nope, the men made the first move. They asked the women out on dates to the cinema, a play, or the opera. She wasn't going to act like a man, now was she? Because Rosalie was most certainly a woman. There was no doubt about that, even though Emmett seemed to be oblivious to that fact.

Emmett cleared his throat and said, "Yes, well, thanks, I'm going to go get changed now." Then he walked out of her bedroom quickly. Rosalie contemplated the hole in the wall again. Well, she thought, now there was a doorway from her bedroom directly into the bathroom. It was dark outside when he appeared in front of her doorway some fifteen minutes later. "I'm hungry," he said, rubbing his stomach.

"Thirsty," Rosalie automatically corrected him

"Yes, well, whatever the word for it is, I'm it. So do you think we could find us some animals?" he asked. Rosalie shrugged.

"Sure, let's go," she said and walked out of the cabin. It took them a little while for them to find anything. But Emmett caught the scent of a moose.

"You know, moose can get to be 1000 pounds. They can derail trains. Might be fun to eat one," he said. Rosalie nodded, venom pooling in her mouth as she smelled the male moose on the wind. "Maybe I could go for a ride beforehand. That'd be a story to tell people. 'Yes, I remember the time when I rode a moose…'" He laughed at this thought and ran off. Rosalie hurried after him, shouting,

"You better not drink it all after your done having your fun! I'm thirsty, too, you know!" she said. She hadn't eaten since the Friday morning. When she caught up to Emmett, he was already jumping onto the spooked moose's back and grabbing its large, impressive horns. He whooped like he was at a rodeo and was carried out of sight as the moose began to run, as well as try to dislodge its new rider. Rosalie stood where she was, listening to Emmett's deep laughter and the frightened noises the moose was making.

"Go Moose Go!" he shouted as the two of them charged back into the clearing. Rosalie jumped on its back, sitting behind Emmett.

"Do you want to keep him for a pet or are you going to eat him?" she asked. The moose jumped suddenly, and even though Rosalie didn't need to, she reflexively wrapped her arms around Emmett's waist and clung to him. She also let out a surprised scream. Emmett laughed at her actions. Rosalie was in no laughing mood. Not only was she slightly mortified by her behavior, but she was beginning to take note of the way Emmett's muscles actually _felt_.

His skin was hard and solid through the fabric of the shirt he was wearing. Her splayed fingers around the front of his waist could feel the taught muscles beneath them. He was so strong…he felt so strong. Also, she could feel his laughs reverberating in his chest through he fingers as well. Suddenly, she was strangely heated again. She was also pressed up against his back. She let go of him quickly. She was definitely letting herself get out of hand…and letting her hands get out of hand.

"Alright, Emmett," she said, reverting back to her bossy tone, "you've had your fun. It's time to eat." Emmett jumped off the moose's back, one hand still around a horn. The moose was brought to the ground. Rosalie shook her head. She had jumped off just in time. "Try to keep your shirt clean, please," she said, before bending her mouth to the moose's neck.

Drinking was something she didn't take pleasure in. Well, she liked it because it was now part of her nature, but she didn't take more pleasure than filling a basic need out of it. It was sort of revolting, the way she enjoyed the panicked heartbeats of the animal as they pumped more blood into her mouth. It was when she was drinking that she felt most unlike herself, and most like a monster. She was still discontent being a vampire, and having to live the life that she had been "given." But she drank because she needed to. Without blood, she would die, and though she didn't enjoy her life, she had no desire to end it. Besides, she had never been one to deny herself anything, and this, though it repulsed her as it satisfied her, was no different from anything else.

When they were done, Emmett said that he wanted to burn some energy, and took off running, after she got him to promise she wouldn't go too far. Rosalie walked back towards the cabin, not rushing herself. She had to keep her nose open to Emmett's smell. If she lost his scent, she would have to go a find him, because he would have gone too far. But he stayed on the wind as she walked the way back to the cabin. The moose had been about a mile away from the cabin, and she had no problem finding her way back in the dark. For one, she could see everything crisply, and for two, she could smell her own scent. She merely followed herself back to the cabin. Emmett was already back. She could smell his fresh scent as she made her way to the door.

When she walked in, he wasn't in the living room, but he had made a fire that was crackling merrily. He wasn't in the kitchen or in his bedroom. Finally, she went to her own bedroom. When she walked in, she saw him standing, frozen, by her vanity, holding a piece of paper in one of his strong hands. She could see it from here. He was holding the card she had gotten from his wake, the one she wasn't sure she would even show him. He turned to look at her as she walked into the bedroom, momentarily lost for words.

"Rosalie, why do you have this?" he asked.

**A/N: **Nah, cliff-hanger, I know! But when I was planning this out, this was how I wanted to end this! Also, that sentence was my goal today when I was writing this. Anyway, read and review please.

Also, how many people knew that Stepehenie Meyer was a Mormon? I had no idea until I read it in a newspaper article my mom sent me in a care package! This is no offense to Mormons, but I was just really surprised...

Oh, and next chapter is going to be in Emmett's POV. It's gonna be intense. I'll have to think about how to do it, though I already know what's going to be discussed and whatnot. And this chapter was totally fun to write. It's ever a bad thing to think about how Emmett looks without a shirt, dripping wet. Even if he is a fictional character, I find him to be quite attractive. Who agrees?


	22. Forgetting Family

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, yeah, I feel extremely guilty for keeping you all waiting for so long. My Internet went dumb and I couldn't connect, and then I lost the strain of the story. I spent a couple of days thinking about this and then I had to lengthen it all out. I really hope that everyone who has reviewed in the past, and who have added this story to their Alerts, or their Favorites, or me to either/both are not disappointed. Also, this story is being translate to Portuguese by one of my readers, Gabrielle. I will be posting the link on my homepage eventually. But right now the top priority is pumping out more chapters and getting it back on the ball. I hope you enjoy.

**Disclaimer: **This is the progeny of Stephenie Meyer's series, _Twilight_.

_Emmett Wilson McCarty. _

_March 7, 1915-October 8, 1935_

_"__But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace. For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and His care is with His elect." –Book of Wisdom_

_October 10, 1935, Howard Funeral Home, Ketchum, Idaho_

His name was there, as was his birthday. His death date was right after it, staring at him. He could barely get past it. Yet, somehow, the quote that followed it was fitting, more so than his family must have thought when they had picked it. He wasn't dead, he was immortal. It was surreal, more surreal than anything that he had experienced thus far. It was a horrible, horrible realization that seemed to fall about his shoulders.

"Rosalie, why do you have this?" he asked her as she came into the room. He turned to face her. He had known that she had gone to his funeral, but somehow it hadn't registered in his conscious mind. It was just something that he knew had occurred. Something that was there, but it had never been presented before him like it was now. "Why do you have this?" he repeated.

Rosalie was silent, still as a stone. Something was gripping the inside of his chest, tight and constrictive. If she did not speak, he was sure that he would break something to make her say what he wanted, _needed_, to hear. There was no reason for her to have this among her things. For Rosalie, wife or partner or whatever she was to Edward, to have this card, this card from another man's funeral, his own.

"What are you even doing in here?" she asked, though not with the usual annoyed, domineering voice she had adopted when she spoke to him. Instead it was soft and sounded tired, as if she was worn out.

"I was looking for a tape measure so I could start to fix the hole. That's not the point, Rosalie. Why do you have this from _my _service?"

"I…" She looked away from him, her tawny gaze bright from their recent hunt. Her eyes took in the wooden paneling of her room, the hole he had made earlier that very day. They took in everything but him standing in front of her dresser, the card held lightly in his hand. "I never meant for you to see it. When I took it I thought that one day…maybe…you would want it. But…I never meant for you to have it now, not this soon, not after it's so fresh," she said in that same weary voice that sounded much older than her young, perfect body that seemed to fill the room with its youth and beauty and vivacity.

"Fresh," he repeated, like a piece of meat or a wound or something. The truth was, he hadn't thought about it all. He had been so caught up with the pain, then the moving, and then with trying to resist his urge to catch Rosalie up in his arms and kiss her. Now…now it was there: the great, black weight of knowing that his family, his _family_, thought he was dead when he really wasn't, not truly. The fact that he was maybe a state over, two tops, was now heavy in his mind like a corporeal burden, suddenly bringing him down lower than he had ever been.

The weight, now that he had discovered and acknowledged was too much for him to bear standing up. He sunk down on Rosalie's bed, though she never used it. Everything was wrong, so wrong. He should be at his own home, laughing with Andy, teasing his little sister, eating his mother's food. He should out there in his hometown, the one that he had wanted out of just months ago. He wanted to be back in his old life, his proper life. He felt empty, hollow, nothing in his heart to fill the hole that his old life had left behind. Rosalie walked over to him and sat next to him on the bed.

"I wish I could say that it got better," she said. Emmett shook his head. He didn't want to hear what she had to say. She could do nothing for him now. She was Edward's. She could not offer him the affection he had craved when he had first seen her. All she could offer him was kind, familial comforts that could not truly fight what he was feeling.

"I forgot," he admitted, the words coming out forced, as if he had to fling them out of his body. "I forgot about them, about what it must mean for them, my death. I got so _distracted_. How can someone just forget their life, their family, their entire existence in less than a month?"

"Our human memories fade. It's like they're behind a veil of gauze. Eventually, if you let them, they become less than a memory. They just disappear," she said quietly, her voice melancholy.

"I'll forget them, all of them?" he asked, the feeling in his chest constricting even more. He would forget all of them? His whole life, his people? As much as it hurt to consider it, he knew that it could happen. It had already begun. Even now, as he tried to picture his sister's face, her likeness was fuzzy, distorted, an echo of what his memories had been. It was like when he tried to recall Rosalie before he had became a vampire. She was dim, a shadow of what she was now.

"You will, if you let them go," she said, resting a hand on his bicep, meaning to comfort. Instead, the gesture felt alien and forced to him, as if she was doing out of obligation instead of true sympathy.

"I think I already have," he said. His throat closed up and there was a pressure behind his eyes, as if something wanted out. He realized he was about to cry, and was humiliated by that. He was a grown man, a large one at that, and he was about to cry. Cry, for God's sake.

"We can't cry, if that's what you're trying to do." Humiliation crashed over him. She could see that he was on the verge of tears that would never come. Suddenly, the fact that he couldn't sleep or cry or eat all the food that he had loved before all of this mess pressed down on him. It was all unfair. He turned to hear, his face almost on the same level as hers. Her eyes looked as sad and as tired as her voice sounded, despite all the feelings he had been getting about her forced gesture of comfort.

"Why?" he asked her, wondering what he meant by it or how she would answer if she did. She shook her head.

"I don't know." Then she put her forehead on his shoulder and let it rest there. She exhaled loudly, looking more spent than anyone he had ever seen in his life. They sat like that for a long time. The night sky was starting to lighten when she lifted her head to stare at him again. She didn't blink, didn't falter, just stared intently. It looked as if she might lean in. But he knew she wasn't, in the back of his mind. She was Edward's, that much was clear.

"How was it?" he finally asked. The silence that had filled the room they were in, the silence they had let fall between them had allowed him some time to process what had happened to him. It let him realize that his former life was gone, that it was beyond his reach, that there was no reconnecting with his birth family. He knew that he had this knew family, as single as he might be in it. They were his new support system, even if he was a fifth wheel. So, now he needed to know how his first family was without him.

"It was sad, your wake…but I saw more strength than I thought I was going to see. Your mother is such a strong woman, much stronger than I am or than my mother was. She stood there, right beside your father, keeping the family together. Your brother was doing the best he could, I could tell, and your sister…your sister—she'll be alright. I can feel it."

Rosalie spoke, and he listened to every word, to every detail, soaking it in like a sponge. She was the last lifeline he had to his old world, his old life, and for that, he was grateful. When she was done speaking, she turned to face him.

"Thank you," he said quietly. She nodded mutely, her eyes shining. For a split second, he was sure that she wanted to kiss him, but in the next she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I should have given it to you right away. I was going to keep it for awhile, give it to you later, if ever. I see now that it's not what you needed me to do," she said. Then she got up and left, calling behind her, "So are you going to start fixing the hole in my room now or what?"

Emmett sighed. Whatever had just happened, whatever kindness she had just shown him, it was over and done with now. She and he were back to how they used to be. He was tired and worn out now, though, and being a five-year-old brother was going to take much more effort than it had before. Now she knew that he could be serious, have adult emotions and express adult sentiments. She would most likely be even more furious with him when he went back to how he was before. Also, though, it was going to be difficult as hell to get into a mindset of a child when all he could think were the thoughts of an adult.

Being attracted to your brother's girl was much more work than he had thought it was going to be. He thought that it was just going to be him thinking of her as a sister, of not concentrating on her more feminine aspects, of suppressing his growing urge to grab her and kiss her. Emmett had hoped, foolishly he saw now, that with his restraint, his affection would wane and eventually disappear, that Rosalie would become a sister to him. He had been wrong. He still wanted her for his girl, his own, no one else's. He had seen this side of her, this tender, comforting side, and he was even more enthralled with her. She might be shallow and selfish at times, but now he knew that she was kind-hearted, at least when she let herself be.

On top of all that, he had let his old life go, not even a week after dying. It seemed too fast, too soon, for this to be happening. He knew that it would take much more time for the heavy, very adult, shadow to lift from his shoulders, but yet he could feel that he had reached the crest and was over the hill. How was it possible that he could have made such progress when he really only had seen the problem hours ago? He wasn't sure how, but there it was. The feeling he had had when he realized that he had begun to forget his family was not as constricting as it had been before Rosalie had sat down next to him and let him figure it out for himself. Maybe it was she that had helped him.

Rosalie, the girl he wanted but could never have, had made him feel whole again, even if the feeling was short lived. Why, God, why couldn't she be his girl? Why did she have to belong to Edward? Why did he want something that he couldn't have? Why was it that he had lost his life then the chance at another with her before he had even started to really pursue her? Why was it that he was suddenly alone in the world?

"Emmett! I want to take a bath, so either you fix that hole in the next five minutes, or remove yourself from my goddamn room!"

Emmett sighed and walked out of the bedroom Rosalie would never sleep in and sat in front of the fire he would never need. His life would be much more bearable if he could include Rosalie in it as his girl. But she wasn't ever going to be.

Afterlife was so unfair.

**A/N:** I didn't look over this because I wanted to get it up, so please excuse minor grammar/spelling mistakes. When i'm typing quickly i tend to switch around a few letters (fro instead of for, form instead of from, etc etc). I hope that you all have enjoyed this and that you will all review and give me (hopefully) lovely reviews. I'll take criticisms if that's what you want to give me, though.


	23. The Matchup

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **So, here is Chapter 23. I know this took me an age. But with school and the two musicals i was in combined with a failing computer (i think i picked up a virus abroad), writing had been something that I could not do. I apologize and hope someone is reading this right now. Thank you if you are, I really appreciate it.

**Disclaimer: **Hopefully by now you know that this is based on Stephenie Meyer's _Twilight_ saga.

Rosalie was beginning to feel how rudimentary the hunting cabin was. They had been staying in it for three and half weeks now. It had meager electricity, running water that sometimes refused to run, and furniture that was completely sub par. It had no full length mirror and she couldn't plug in a curler due to the fact that she _didn't_ _have one_. After two weeks, she was pining for her walk-in closet back in Ketchum. All those clothes lined up and organized for her own leisurely perusal…

"I need a mirror," she said suddenly. Emmett looked up from the book on bird watching he had found some three days before in the basement when he had been fixing the water yet again.

"There's one in the bathroom," he said. He had fixed the hole he'd made in her wall as best as could be expected with their admittedly limited resources. It in no way matched the rest of the wall, but it was completely covered and looked stable enough. Emmett, for all of his childish antics, was quite the handy man.

"No, I mean a full-length mirror. I want one. Is there anyway you can make me one?" she asked. He grinned.

"No, I can't make you a mirror. For one, I wouldn't even know where to begin or how to make it. Secondly, we do not have the necessary materials to make a mirror if I did know how to make one. And finally, I just don't feel like indulging the oversensitivity you have of your looks." It was the most intelligent thing he'd said in five days. A lot of their talk had been limited to handy work, hunting, and more recently, bird watching.

"Excuse me?" she said indignantly. "Oversensitivity of my looks? What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I think you're conceited," he said nonchalantly. Rosalie could feel indignation rising up in her chest.

"I am not conceited, for your information. I am merely aware of my beauty at all times. Even a child like you can see that I am unparalleled," she said, sitting up straighter in her chair. He raised an eyebrow.

"Unparalleled, huh?"

"Yes. I have not seen anyone more beautiful than me. Have you? If so, I would like to know who she is and seek her out," Rosalie said. She was serious, too. If Emmett said he knew someone who was more beautiful than she was, she would find her. She would find her and make sure she wasn't more beautiful much longer. Also, it would wound her pride to know that Emmett thought someone else was prettier. Call it whatever you like, she didn't like thinking that the man of her dreams fancied someone else prettier.

"She? Who said it was a woman?" he asked.

"Are you suggesting that a _man_ is more beautiful than I am?" she asked, laughing at the pure ridiculousness of the thought.

"Yes, I believe so," Emmett said seriously. Rosalie stood up.

"Who? Tell me now!" she demanded. Emmett smiled at her.

"Myself, of course." Instead of the anger that she herself had been expecting to explode out of her when he uttered the name of this man, laughter bubbled out of her mouth. She suddenly found herself lost in giggles and laughter. His answer had been so unexpected and so…Emmett that she couldn't help but laugh. "Are you saying that I'm not as beautiful as you are?" he asked with mock indignation. Rose sat down next to him on the couch.

"Yes," she managed to say between her laughs.

"I beg to differ! My skin is just as flawless as yours! My hair is just as shiny!"

"But you're hair's _brown_," Rosalie said, shaking her head.

"What exactly do you have against brown hair? What makes your hair better than mine?" he asked, folding his arms across his chest. The way his muscles bunched together did not go past Rosalie unnoticed. She merely said nothing about it.

"Well, for one, it's blond."

"And for two, since that isn't a legitimate reason whatsoever?"

"It's longer," she said.

"It's longer," he repeated, leveling his gaze with hers. "I could grow my hair out. Then we could see how much better I looked with long luxurious hair." Rosalie shook her head, her laughter suddenly renewed by the image of Emmett walking around with mid-waist length hair.

"I don't think it would help you," she said.

"Fine then. I can't help what my eyes look like, so you can't bring that into account. I'm taller than you. I'm more muscled than you by far. I have a winning personality that adds to my inner beauty that is ultimately reflected in my outer beauty," he said quite seriously.

"Do you expect me to become more muscled? I certainly can't walk around looking as you do! Besides, what makes your personality so much better than my own?" she asked. He thought for a few seconds, pursing his lips.

"Hmmm…depth?" he suggested. Rosalie heard herself shriek.

"You think I'm shallow?" she said in a high-pitched voice, smacking his chest.

"'I need a mirror' anyone?" he said, grinning widely.

"I'm not the one who wrestles Grizzlies or hops from treetop to treetop or rides moose!" Rosalie could feel herself leaning into him as she brought up his past silliness. He folded his arms.

"Those things show a willingness to try new things as well as a sense of adventure, giving depth to my personality."

"Yes, a depth of rashness!" she said.

"Is it even possible to be rash now? Rashness usually leads to injury and how can I be injured now? The only things that can hurt me are words. And yours cut deep. You suggest that I'm not beautiful. How caustic of you!" he said, mock tearful.

"Caustic? I'm hardly caustic," Rosalie said.

"No, you know what you are? Conceited!"

"I am not!" she shouted, launching herself on to him, tipping the couch so that they fell on the ground, laughing. When they stopped rolling and their laughter died down, Emmett was left lying on top of her, her wrists in his hands. Rosalie felt the shift from the playfulness she had jumped with to a more charged atmosphere. They were in a position where kissing would easily be executed. She was very open to this line of action, and it seemed as if Emmett was as well.

This thought registered in her mind, traveling down her neck to her spine where it continued down her back, sending heat waves throughout her body and settling deep in her skin. She could feel her body getting antsy and warm in an intense, entirely unfamiliar way. She shifted slightly, putting herself underneath his body. It was one thing to look at Emmett's body, but to be pressed up against it? Marvelous. Even with two layers of clothing between them. She felt the way his muscles flexed and relaxed; the way they moved against her slightly and subtly. Rosalie felt her mouth move so as to be open to kissing. Her eyes began to close as she saw Emmett lean in…

_Finally_.

Nothing. Nothing came. Rosalie opened her eyes after a few seconds. She expected to find him leaning in or perhaps gazing at her. Instead he smiled awkwardly and got up. Rosalie was left lying belatedly on the wooden ground, hair fanned around her head, breathing hard in anticipation of an event that was now not to happen.

"Have you ever played the game where you think of a word for each letter of the alphabet?" he asked. The anger that Rosalie had not expressed earlier came now. She leapt up, infuriated.

"NO! And guess what? I don't want to play! You are so goddamned stupid! How is it that you think that something like that would be interesting to me? I can't take you anymore. No more. NO MORE!" she shouted. She marched over to the door and yanked to open. "Go to hell Emmett McCarty!" she screamed before sprinting to the forest to find something to kill.

**A/N: **As it turns out, I had this chapter for a while. I think I thought it was too short for posting, but whatevs. It's something of a cliffy, I guess. So...review, please, tell me what you think about this. Thanks!!!


	24. Tell the Truth

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**Author's Note:** The long-awaited 24th chapter. Sorry it took so long. I write better in colder weather, I think. Less stuff to do. In summer, all I want to do is go outside. Sorry for the wait, really. I hope you like it, because I know this is what a lot of you have been waiting for.

**Disclaimer:** This is a fanfiction, not a Stephenie Meyer original, because I am not her.

Stupidity. Emmett was the embodiment of stupidity. He felt stupid, he was acting stupid, and now he had actually done something stupid. Rosalie had to know now. She was obviously upset with him for crossing lines that were clearly drawn. What if she was going back to Ketchum to tell Edward so Edward could come back and get rid of Emmett? Truthfully speaking, he wasn't really physically scared of Edward, even if he was a vampire. Emmett really didn't think that Edward would ever beat him in hand-to-hand fighting. But he was afraid of what Edward might say. The Cullens were all that he had now. There was no one else out there for him. Sure, he might find some other vampires, but they wouldn't be like the Cullens, that much he was sure of. So why had he just jepoardized this?

Rosalie was most likely on her way back to his old hometown, she would tell Carlisle and Esme and Edward, and they would be shocked and affronted by Emmett's behavior just then. They would come to realize that Emmett McCarty was not to be trusted and could not be a part of their family. The Cullens were moral folks, and they wouldn't stand for Emmett trying to kiss their son's wife, or fiance, or whatever her title was. They wouldn't have it, especially if they knew that he knew. Because Emmett knew that Rosalie was taken. There was no doubt about that.

Why had he had to be so stupid? Why did Rosalie have to be so perfect? Sure, she was conceited and she expected all the things that he couldn't give her, but he wanted her nonetheless. She was everything he had been looking for without knowing he was looking for it. She was beautiful and she had flare. She was what every woman aspired to be, what every man wanted to have. Emmett wanted her to be his, to have her be his girl. And look at him now, he'd almost kissed her, knowing full well that she was Edward's girl. This was not the person he was. He didn't try to kiss girls he knew weren't single. It was just as bad as if he would have tried to kiss Mary, knowing that she was with Andy. He'd never once considered kissing Mary the way he had thought about kissing Rosalie.

Emmett sat in the living room, looking at the fire, wondering how he was going to get out of the mess he was in. If Rosalie went to get Edward, he was in trouble, and if she didn't, he was still in trouble. Either way, he had to figure out a way to deal with it. Maybe he could act as if it was all a misunderstading? He'd made sure Edward didn't hear a single thing about Rosalie apart from a sisterly sort of affection when they were together for those few days. He would probably be inclined to think that is _was_ all a misunderstanding and that Rosalie had just been overreacting. He really didn't want to put all the blame on Rosalie, but if he had to...he would feel bad about it, and hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

He'd barely decided that was the plan of action he was going with when Rosalie burst through the door, looking fiercely determined. She was, however, alone. She hadn't been gone long enough to go back to Ketchum and get Edward and then back here. She smelled like the outside and her hair was tousled. She'd obviously fed, since her eyes were a light color that looked like molten gold.

"You have some explaining to do," she said, staying where she was. Emmett could feel himself starting to panick. If he'd had a heartbeat, it would have picked up.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid with me! I know you're not as dumb as you've been pretending to be. And I know you really don't find bird-watching as riveting as you've been saying. I just want to truth, and god dammit, I'm going to get it," she said angrily.

"What do you want me to say?" he asked, hoping that brilliance would strike in the next few seconds so he could get himself out of this.

"I want you to tell me what's going on with you!" she said.

"I don't know!" he told her, actually telling her the truth. "I know that I have been acting strangely, but you have to give me time to adjust. It hasn't even been a month yet! You can't expect me to adjust that fast, can you? My head is messed up right now, so maybe that's why I did it." He instantly knew he'd said something wrong. He'd placed this whole conversation around one thing. That thing being him trying to kiss her. So now instead of having this conversation being all-encompassing, it was now focused.

"Did what, exactly?" Rosalie asked.

"Did it; everything," Emmett said lamely, trying to get the conversation back to the abstract.

"Did you love Susan?" Rosalie asked. Emmett blinked.

"What? No!" he said quickly. He was confused.

"Then why don't you explain to me why you have been so distant," Rosalie said. Distant? Wasn't this whole thing about his lack of distance.

"I haven't been!" he said.

"Oh yes, you have," she said.

"I've spent all my time with you, haven't I? I've been giving you your space, though, right?"

"What is wrong with you? What are you even saying? Can't you just tell me the goddamn truth?" she demanded, stamping her foot, splintering the wood.

"What are _you _talking about?" Emmett asked. Rosalie sighed.

"No. You tell me what you think we're talking about," she said slowly, precisely. Emmett swallowed. Maybe the solution to this was to just put it out there, and tell her what he was trying to do. Maybe knowing that he liked her, wanted her, would help her understand. Maybe then she would help him try to distance himself.

"Listen, I met you once before I became this. I thought you were beautiful, and I wanted you to be my girl. You can't say that something like that isn't natural. Just look at you. But when I was...turned, I learned that you and Edward weren't really brother and sister. I learned that you two were together. I've been trying to fight it, I have. I'm not out to get in between you two. So I want to apologize for my actions today," he said sincerely. Rosalie's face had gotten angrier and angrier as he had continued to speak, which did not bode well for him.

"You mean to tell me that you think that _Edward_ and I are a couple?" she asked.

"Well, aren't you?" Emmett asked, surprised.

"You stupid smalltown boy! We are not, nor we were ever, a couple! You stupid, stupid, _stupid_ man!" she shouted, stamping her foot again, splintering the wood even worse. Emmett stared at her. _What?_ She and Edward weren't a couple? But he had been so _sure_...

"You...you aren't?" he asked, still unsure.

"No. We. Are. Not. Nor. Will. We. Ever. Be." She clipped her words very precisely.

"So...you're angry because I _haven't_ done anything, not because I _have_?" he asked.

"YES! I have been waiting and waiting for you to do something and today I _finally_ think you might be, and you don't do anything!"

"I--well." Emmett had no words for it. Rosalie took a calming breath then walked over to him.

"Now, I only heard this second-hand through Edward. But he told me he heard you think something, the first time you saw me. Do you remember what that thing was?" she asked him. Emmett nodded numbly. He could never forget that. Sure, his first memory of her was foggy and human, but he would never forget the way he had first felt when he'd seen her. "Why don't you tell me then?" she said, leaning closer into him.

"I thought, 'She's a goddess come round to visit the mortals.'" Rosalie smiled then, her eyes closed. She seemed so happy to hear the words that Emmett wondered if she had ever been called a goddess before. Then she opened her eyes.

"Guess what, Emmett McCarty? You're not mortal anymore." Then she kissed him fiercely on the lips.

**Author's Note: **So there you have it. This is story isn't done. I have at least a few more chapters. I do intend to start another story that has this plot line, just an fyi. So, the next chapter is going to be in Rosalie's POV, and I can go one of two ways with it. I can have them...consummate their relationship, or I can go into warm, PG fuzzies. Tell me which you prefer. Thanks for reading, and tell me what you think in a review!


	25. The Deer Head Saw It All

**The Man with the Dimpled Cheeks**

**Disclaimer: **_Twilight_ isn't mine.

**A/N: **Okay, so here it is. Sorry it took forEVER. Life got in the way. So, here it is. Please, enjoy.

His lips felt so good against her own, firm but soft, and deliciously cool. She never thought that a single kiss could make her feel so...good. She felt like she could do anything as long as that kiss didn't end. She would do anything as long as the kiss could last forever. It didn't. Instead it turned into many kisses, and touches...and feelings. It was like her world was exploding. Emmett was so **D**_strong_ and he felt so _good. _One of his hands wrapped itself around her waist and brought her closer, and the other reached for her thigh. It was all moving so fast. Rosalie wasn't sure if it was the most appropriate thing to do. Should she be letting him grab her thigh like that? Should she be letting him run his hand underneath her skirt? Should she be allowing him to kiss her so passionately?

Amidst her thinking and worrying about societal expectations about what was happening, she realized that she shouldn't give a damn about what other people might think. She loved him. She was almost sure of it. She knew he was something of a child, but he had feelings and thoughts that were those of an adult. He was strong and kind and confident in himself in a way that she respected and admired. Of course, he was so much different than what she was used to. But then again...that was a good thing. She didn't need another man like...Royce...

Emmett brought her mind away from...Royce...by unhooking her garter to her left stocking. Rosalie felt her body tighten. He had touched anything in particular...it was just that now he was undressing her. She liked it...she liked it a great deal. She took his lead and started to unbutton his shirt. Once she had completed that task she pushed it away and off of his shoulders, revealing his toned and shaped chest. She ran her fingers down the cool skin, enjoying the feeling of it beneath her hands. Once that happened, things moved much faster.

Her shirt was off and her skirt was unzipped, and his belt was unbuckled. She tossed it away from her, splintering a glass window. Her other stocking was unhooked, and her skirt was pulled off. She stood, arms locked around his neck, in her stockings, slip, and brassiere. She braced her herself against his neck and jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. One of Emmet's hands wrapped around her waist, securing her position against him. She reached for something to hold on to. Her hand felt the wood mantel, but when Emmett's lips went to kiss right above her breast, she squeezed the wood, feeling it turn into nothing. It splintered and cracked and Rosalie didn't care.

"Oh God," she whispered, holding his head to her chest. Emmett placed her back against the wall near the fireplace and kissed her neck and collarbone and the tops of her breasts. He reached back and untied her brassiere. She took it off and tossed it somewhere. Rosalie saw Emmett's gaze widen at the sight of her breasts and it filled Rosalie with pleasure. She had never shown a man her breasts, but she did think that Emmett's reaction was appropriate. She did have wonderfully ample breasts: perfectly round. After admiring them for a few seconds, Emmett lowered his mouth to her right nipple. The sensation sent a ripple of pleasure rocketing down her spine, causing her head to snap back as she arched towards him. She went through the wooden wall, but she didn't care. She didn't care about anything but the wonderful feeling against her nipple. Emmett began moving her to his bedroom, slowly...so slowly. She tightened her legs around his waist and he hurried, a hand grabbing the doorframe, crumbling the wood so easily.

He laid her down on his bed and took off her slip and stocking quickly, tearing her silk slip from Paris. She didn't mind. She had more. He kissed her slowly, moving down her body at an agonizing pace. She moved her hips upwards, toward his body. A low groan escaped his mouth, sending shivers down her spine. Emmett kissed her stomach and started to move lower, towards the edge of her panties. Rosalie felt herself clench and moisten at the possibility...but no, surely not...Emmett pulled her panties off slowly, taking her in centimeter by centimeter. Once he set her panties aside, he ran his big hands over the tops of her thighs.

"Please..." Rosalie said, sitting up and unbuttoning his pants (which she noticed were tented. That sent a rush of satisfaction through her. She liked the effect she had on him...oh God she did). She unzipped his fly and pulled down his trousers. Then she looked up at him in the dark. His curly locks were slightly mussed and his eyes glittered with a desire that set her body on fire. "Emmett, please," she said. She pulled down his boxer shorts, revealing a large erection. Rosalie felt her eyes widen. It was impressive, but then again, Emmett was a _big_ man. It made sense, she supposed, for him to be _big_ there as well. She bit her bottom lip lightly and took him in her hand. He was hot and heavy. He groaned. Rosalie felt herself smile impishly as she began to stroke it.

"Rosalie...don't tease..." Emmett managed to gasp. She looked up at him, and she saw that his glittering eyes were half-lidded. Rosalie considered continuing just to torture him, but truth was, she wanted him inside her. So she released him and went on her knees so she could kiss him fully. His arm wrapped around her waist as he lowered her on the bed. She spread her legs to allow him to set himself on top of her.

"Oh God, please..." she moaned. He stopped kissing her neck and looked at her, raising himself slightly. Rosalie adjusted herself so that she could feel him right at her apex. Emmett slid inside her, slowly. Rosalie gasped and held onto his large shoulders as waves of pleasure rocked her body. Emmett continued until he was up to the hilt. "Mmmm," Rosalie whispered. He kissed her and slid out, slowly.

His pace was steady and pleasurable. Rosalie felt like she was…complete in a way that she had never thought possible. It was like she had been missing something in her life that she hadn't already complained about. She had been missing something important, and that something was _this_. She had been missing making love. She had been missing making love with _Emmett_. Her nails shredded the pillow under her head, and the mattress beneath it. It felt so amazing. She arched into him as her breathing became labored. Emmett's big hands were around her waist.

"Emmett, oh God Emmett," she managed to moan. For whatever reason, Emmett changed the steady pace he had set. Suddenly it was much faster, much harder, much better. Rosalie reacted on an entirely instinctual level, and matched his increased intensity with vigor. She let her hips roll into his thrusts. She grabbed his chest and back and let it all go. The world was changing, and it felt glorious. The bed couldn't take the increased activity, and fell lower to the ground and the legs gave out under the thrusting. They rolled, still together, off the end, destroying the footboard. Wood splintered and was scraped while Rosalie and Emmett met each other thrust for thrust. Rosalie kissed him fiercely, trying to convey all the things she was feeling with him inside of her, making her feel like the most desirable thing on the planet.

Then something was happening. It felt like something was building. Her breathing became shorter, and her body tightened, and she moaned more as a result. Emmett pushed into her with increasing speed and strength. Rosalie reached for anything to hold, but nothing stayed in her hands. It all crumbled. Finally, she grabbed Emmett, and it happened. She reached an ending point, and it was more than glorious. It was pleasure incarnate. It was heaven in a moment.

"Oh GOD Emmett!" she moaned, her legs tightening around his waist. He pushed into her three more times, shuddered and groaned into her. He relaxed on top of her, with his upper body supported by his elbows on either side of her body. He looked down at her. And smiled. And she saw his dimples, and melted. She kissed him and then let her head fall back to what was left of the wooden floor. She moved her head, searching for a clock on the wall, and was instead greeted with the sight of the mounted buck head. And it was incredibly disturbing to see its sightless eyes looking down at the two of them. "That deer head is seriously disturbing," she whispered.

"I wanted to move it," Emmett said, "but you forced me to put it back on the wall." He laughed, and that sent movement down his body, all the way to where his body was still joined with hers. Rosalie spasmed with pleasure, and it was the beginning again.

**A/N:** Hey, so yeah, tell me what you think. If anyone even reads this anymore. I swore I wouldn't be the author that didn't update for AGES, and I am one now. Better late than never, though, right?


	26. My Girl, Talkin' 'Bout My Girl, My Girl!

**The Man With the Dimpled Cheeks**

**A/N: **Hey there everyone, thanks for the reviews. I am eternally grateful for my loyal readers (I recognize a few usernames from when I first started posting, foxymalon64 and RosalieCullen being among them) and I would also like to welcome new readers to this story. Thanks for joining. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** You know the old song and dance. Not mine. Stephenie Meyer's.

When the sun came up, Emmett was lying next to Rosalie in the living room, under at least two of the blankets that had been in the closet in Rosalie's room. He was incredibly content, and incredibly happy, happier than he could remember ever being.

"Mmmm, Emmett, this is why I have a fire place that has fire in it. So we can cuddle next to it," Rosalie said from his chest.

"It is nice. Especially the mantel, you know, what's left of it," he said, grinning. The mantel was missing a great big chunk of wood. In fact, the cabin was pretty much a mess. In the thrall of it all, things had gotten a little…destroyed.

"I know. This place is a mess. I would feel bad, except…well, I don't." She snuggled in closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I like your chest," she said into it. "I like all of your muscles, and I like how big you are." Emmett smiled.

"I like your waist, and your thighs, and your stomach, and I also like your chest," Emmett said, grinning wickedly, even though she couldn't see it. Rosalie had the perfect set of breasts. And they were his to do with what he pleased. She was _his_. His chest swelled with the thought that Rosalie was _his girl_. "You know what else?" he asked. Rosalie looked up at him and shook her head. "I love you." She smiled the most beautiful smile.

"I love you, too, Emmett," she said. Emmett rolled on top of her and kissed her neck. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. She lifted her leg until it was high on his waist, and moved her pelvis near his groin.

"Mmm, Rosalie, what do you think you're doing?" he asked her, looking at her face. She grinned mischievously.

"Just getting comfortable," she said, moving up against Emmett's pelvis. He could feel himself getting hard…though he hadn't really gone all the way down. It was impossible to be completely soft when Rosalie was naked and wrapped around him. He kissed her neck and slid into her. She was tight and perfect, and yes, she was all his. She moaned and let her nails bite into his shoulders. He thrust into her and she moaned louder. Then he rolled around until she was on top. She let out a slight gasp.

"Your turn," he said, placing his hands on her hips. Rosalie grinned, and straddled him, pushing her hips forward and backward, her hands firmly on his chest. Emmett gazed at her incredibly perfect body. She was toned and perfect…and God, those breasts, that hair. It didn't take very long for him, or her for that matter, to reach the end. And what an end. It was like the world tilted on its axis then flipped around, then came back to center. Rosalie flopped down next to him gracefully, one leg still on one of his.

"That was amazing," she said. Emmett nodded and turned on his side to look at her. He leaned into her ear and whispered,

"You're mine, and I love knowing it." She shivered.

"You're mine, and I take such pleasure in that," she whispered back. It was his turn to shiver. Rosalie pulled the blankets over their shoulders, and snuggled into him again. "I wish we could sleep so I could wake up in your arms."

"Me too," Emmett said. It was unfair that they would forever be deprived of that. Instead, they closed their eyes, and just held each other.

Then there was a tap on the window. Emmett opened his eyes to an afternoon sun. Edward was framed by it, standing outside of the cabin with two suitcases. Rosalie opened her eyes.

"Edward's here," she said. Then she looked over at him, and then back at Emmett. After a few seconds, Edward turned away. "He won't look until we're dressed," Rosalie said. They got up, blankets wrapped around them and went to their perspective rooms. Emmett put on a pair of slacks with a blue button-down shirt. He put on socks and debated whether he needed shoes. He decided against them. He went to Rosalie's room, and knocked on her door. She opened it quickly. She was in her slip and a top that was pink. Emmett sat down on the lopsided bed. They had broken the footboard end legs the night before, when they had moved to Rosalie's room at one point.

"Do you know why he's here?" he asked.

"Probably to tell us that the cabin's ready. And maybe to take me home for Thanksgiving. I hadn't thought about that, actually. I thought that I would be able to skip it…but now I don't know…" Rosalie said, putting on a light tan skirt. She looked at him, and then nodded towards the living room. She leaned in first and kissed him. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, then stood up. Edward was standing amidst the wreckage of the living room. The major pieces of furniture were pushed away from the center of the room, most of them upended, or on their sides. Some were missing parts, or looked shredded. There were cracks in the windows and floor. In fact, there were sizable holes in the floor. Emmett could barely contain a satisfied grin. That was impressive damage. Edward cleared his throat.

"So…Carlisle said the cabin was all ready. Good thing, too, huh?" Edward managed to smile awkwardly.

"Did Carlisle say I was coming home for Thanksgiving?" Rosalie asked, ignoring Edward's comment about the state of the place.

"Actually…yes, he said he wanted you home…but, we weren't sure what to do. Since someone needs to be here for Emmett, and really, the entire family should be home for Thanksgiving. So Esme decided to have Thanksgiving at the new cabin. We told people it was a tradition to rent out a lodge in the woods to have Thanksgiving in. So, there's your answer," Edward said. Rosalie nodded.

"Good. And those suitcases are for me, right?" Emmett grinned. She had been saying how her wardrobe was dreadfully limited, and by God, she'd had to _repeat_ some outfits. Edward glanced at Emmett with an amused expression, then turned to Rosalie.

"Yes, in fact, they are. Esme was kind enough to move your personal closet to the cabin, so that you might have more wardrobe to work with," Edward said. Rosalie closed her eyes in joy, a brilliant smile blossoming on her face. It had taken Emmett a hell of a lot longer to get a similar smile out of her, and all it took for it to happen for Edward was the mention of lots of clothes. Huh. Well, Emmett had come to the conclusion that Rosalie was shallow quite some time ago. Again, Edward glanced at him, this time a bemused expression there.

"That's wonderful, Edward," Rosalie whispered, almost reverently. By God, Emmett thought, she was positively beaming with joy at the prospect of a closet full of clothes.

"So, I'm to escort you to the cabin now…once you're done packing…" Edward said, voice drifting off as looked into the separate rooms. "Was there a hole in the bathroom wall?" Emmett couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yeah, I crashed through it when I saw my reflection. It happened before…well, before last night. Hence why it's repaired, so to speak," he explained. Rosalie's eyes snapped open as she was pulled out of her ecstatic state.

"Yes, well, let's get packed. We'll discuss last night and this cabin…later," she proclaimed and quickly disappeared into her bedroom. Emmett shrugged at Edward and went to his own room to pack. With his new speed, it didn't take long for him to pack his single-suitcase-worth of clothing. Rosalie took a little longer, as she had two suitcases, and Emmett realized, something of a perfectionist when it came to stowing her beloved articles of clothing. Edward ushered Emmett outside while they waited for Rosalie to finish. Emmett followed, knowing what conversation was to follow.

"So, Emmett, as Rosalie's brother, for all intents and purposes, I feel a need to exert a certain sense of…protectiveness, when it comes to her…heart," Edward started off slowly. Emmett fought to be serious. Edward looked about 17, an age some four years younger than Emmett. However, there was a chance that Edward was actually older than Emmett. Really, Emmett had no idea how long he'd been a vampire. It could be hundreds of years, for all he knew.

"Thus, I must ask what your intentions are…" Edward drifted off awkwardly, though his gaze was steady. Emmett looked down at him and smiled.

"No need to worry, Ed, my intentions are not malicious. In fact, they're quite…oh Jesus. The fact is, my new brother, I love your sister, and if she'll let it happen, I'm going to marry her." Edward considered this for a second. If he had any doubts, all he had to do was take a peek inside Emmett's head and suss out Emmett's real intentions. It made the whole conversation easier, actually, as Emmett had nothing to hide.

"I accept that as true. But still, Rosalie is a woman of fine-breeding, and is used to a normal system of courtship. And to think that she allowed you to…" Edward sighed, and looked down, obviously struggling with what to say. "Look, she's not a simple country girl. Whatever you did to allow her to let you make love to her…dammit. It's not in Rosalie's sensibilities to shun societal propriety and allow herself to be taken before she's been married. She's not a common girl, and I want you to know that…why can't I get this out?" Edward sighed in frustration. Emmett smiled at him, waiting for what was to come next, though he knew what Edward was trying to say. "Emmett."

"Yes?"

"Rosalie deserves to be treated with respect and love. You are not to treat her any differently because she allowed you to make love to her before marriage. If the fact that you can get her into bed before you two have been wed puts any ideas into your head about treating her like a common woman, you better think twice. She's a very strong woman, and she knows how she's to be treated. So, I would ask if you were to wait until you are married before you two…consummate your relationship again." Edward nodded. Emmett stood before him, arms crossed. Before he could open his mouth to reply, a voice answered.

"Edward, I would dearly appreciate it if you would keep out of my business. When I next bed Emmett is none of your concern. If I choose to make love to him this very day, you will have no say in the matter. I am not a common whore, and the fact that you think I am because of what I have done makes me want to rip off one of your arms and hurl it into the forest. So, if you would, my bags." Rosalie looked beyond irritated, bordering on rage. Edward seemed taken aback. Emmett, too, was surprised by her almost crass language. But, he had to admit, there was a certain satisfaction in knowing that Rosalie would like to "bed" him sometime in the near future. Edward handed Rosalie her two new suitcases silently. Emmett automatically picked up the two she had at her feet.

In a dignified huff, Rosalie marched down the steps onto the forest ground and waited for Edward to lead the way. Edward took off running and Rosalie followed suit, head held high. Emmett couldn't help but grinning. That was _his_ girl, and by God, he was proud to say it.

**A/N:** Hey there again! So this story is winding down, I think. I have a few more things to finish off, but I'm thinking five or so more chapters. Don't worry though, I like this story thread and set-up. I'll stick with it. In the mean time, please keep reading, and check out my other fanfictions. They need love too, also, I'll try to update them soon as well!


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